A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?
by marine-machine
Summary: [KIBBS] A murder on a navy ship causes problems for Gibbs. Eventually, he learns that sometimes a reward isn't as good as it first seems, leaving the team in tatters. Will Kate and Gibbs kiss and makeup? CHAPTER 37 NOW UP! FIN!
1. Chapter 1

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I am merely borrowing them. Some of the characters you don't recognise are mine though!

Summary: Whilst they're working on a murder case on a Navy ship, Tony bets Gibbs won't be able to go without coffee for a week and the result is much more interesting than any of them ever anticipated.

Author's Note: NCIS is my favourite show and Gibbs is my favourite character. This is also my first attempt at an NCIS fanfic, and I'd like to thank my muse, Kate who has been a great help and gave me some great ideas.

* * *

"Hey, you wanna leave here?" Lieutenant Patterson breathed into Sergeant Dowling's ear, his breath smelling of alcohol and tobacco

"Only if you leave with me" Sergeant Dowling replied kissing him again, wrapping her arms around his body. "My place or yours?"

"Yours is closer" Lt Patterson all but whispered, pressing his body against hers.

They made their way out of the crowded drinking hole and supported each other as they stumbled down the narrow corridor to Sgt Dowling's cabin. As they neared the cabin, Lt Patterson began kissing Sgt Dowling fervently, feeling the warmth radiating from her skin. Finding the door, Sgt Dowling fumbled with her keys behind her, opening the door and backing into it. Lt Patterson began unbuttoning her shirt, setting his hands free over her body and slowly moving on top of her as they found the bed.

"I'm gonna …make this … worth your wait… Sergeant Dowling" He said, between kissing her.

"Hehehe, I can hardly wait, Lieutenant Pa… what was that?" She asked, steadying his hands

"What…was what?" He asked, continuing to kiss her

"I just felt something on the bed" She replied, getting up and moving towards the door

"That was me" He said laughing

Sgt Dowling turned on the light and turned pale. "Holy f…" Lt Patterson swore, quickly moving off the bed and grabbing his shirt.

On the bed was the body of an officer with blood all over him.

* * *

"Morning Kate" Tony said cheerfully as Kate entered the bullpen

"Tony" Kate replied as way of greeting, sitting at her desk

"So, how was your date with Shane last night?" Tony asked her, walking over to her desk and raising his eyebrow

"It was … How did you know I went out with Shane last night?" Kate asked him, standing up

"A good agent never reveals his source." Tony replied quizzically

"Damn-it Tony! You've been reading my messages again haven't you?" Kate asked

"Would I do that Kate?"

"Do what DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he entered the bull-pen, carrying his ever-present cup of coffee, stopping at Kate's desk to look at Tony

"He's been reading my messages again" Kate answered, looking at Tony

Tony turned to Gibbs, and pointing at Kate began saying "Haha, I ...". Gibbs slapped Tony over the back of his head and went to his desk, sat down and had some of his coffee.

Tony turned to Kate who had sat down and now had a smirk on her face. Tony returned to his desk, sat down and began playing a game of solitaire.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked from his desk

"Yes boss?" Tony answered looking at Gibbs

"You finished your report yet?"

"It's on your desk, boss". Gibbs grumbled as he looked through the paperwork on his desk, when his phone interrupted him.

"Yeah, Gibbs" He answered, finally locating the report

Kate, DiNozzo and McGee listened to the one-sided conversation and watched Gibbs' face as he took the call.

"Get your gear" Gibbs said as he finished the call, standing up

"Where are we going boss?" Tony asked as he stood up and grabbed his gear

"Out to sea" Gibbs responded "McGee, get Ducky"

"We going in the chopper?" Tony asked

Gibbs stopped and looked at Tony "No DiNozzo, we're gonna swim!"

Tony turned and looked at Kate who had a smug smile on her face. "Well, I've always wondered what it'd be like to see Kate with a wet T…" Tony stopped as Gibbs slapped him over the back of his head again and glared at him.

* * *

"Hi, you must be Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS? I'm Lieutenant Brown, I was ordered to show you around" Lt Brown said as he approached Gibbs after the chopper had landed, extending his hand.

Gibbs shook the man's hand and introduced him to the rest of the team "This is Special Agents Todd, DiNozzo and McGee, and our Medical Examiner Dr Mallard. What can you tell me about our marine?"

"I didn't know him personally; we were never posted at the same place. From what I know, he was a real benefit to the core, hard working" Lt Brown explained as he showed them to Srg Dowling's cabin.

"Where are the officers who found him" Gibbs asked

"They hit the showers after finding the marine, and were escorted to the cafeteria. We've already questioned them, they don't know anything" the Lt replied

"I'll decide if they know anything Lieutenant. McGee get pictures, DiNozzo, sketches, bag and tag everything, Kate, you're with me" Gibbs said

"Um, we've already taken pictures sir" Lt Brown told Gibbs

"We prefer to get our own photos and don't call me sir. Where's the cafeteria?" Gibbs asked

"This way" the Lt led the way in silence.

"So, is this anything like the boat you were posted on Gibbs? Way back in the day?" Kate asked as they walked

"Ship, Kate, it's a ship. A boat is what I'm building in my basement" Gibbs replied, turning to her as he spoke

"Well, yes, I know it's a ship Gibbs" Kate said, adding under her breath "and I've never seen your boat...or basement"

As Gibbs raised his eyebrow and was about to reply, the Lieutenant turned to them and announced that they were at the cafeteria.

"This is Sergeant Dowling and Lieutenant Patterson, they found the body early this morning" Lt Brown introduced the officers to Gibbs. "I'll leave you with them, if you need me just yell"

Gibbs thanked Lt Brown as he left the room, leaving them alone with the two officers

"So do you want to tell me what happened last night?" Gibbs asked, getting out his pen and paper, Kate following suit with her PDA.

"No, we've already been over this a hundred times." Lt Patterson replied

"Not with us u haven't" Gibbs said, a bit frustrated "Why don't you start at the beginning"

"I don't want to. If you want our statements, you're gonna have to talk to the MP's." Lt Patterson said, getting up and turning to Srg Dowling "Come on, we're outta here"

"It wasn't a question Lieutenant!" Gibbs told them, getting annoyed

"We like to have our own statements for our investigation, it's less complicated. If you cooperate, this won't take long and you can be out of here in no time" Kate said, motioning for them to sit down

With a sigh, Srg Dowling began explaining what had happened the previous night and how they discovered the marine.

"Did you know the marine?" Kate asked

"Yeah, we trained together at NROTC. His name is Lieutenant Mitchell, he got a promotion shortly after getting his posting here" Srg Dowling replied

"When was that?" Gibbs asked

"Six months ago. He was stationed in Norfolk before he came here" Srg Dowling answered again

"What was your relationship like with him?" Kate asked

"Purely professional!" Lt Patterson answered for her, standing up "Are we done?"

"No Lieutenant! We are not done!" Gibbs replied, glaring at the man

"James, sit down. We went out for a while back at the academy, it wasn't really serious or anything, we were young, we decided to break it off when we left and went our separate ways" Srg Dowling said

"You never told me that" Lt Patterson said, looking at her

"You never asked" Srg Dowling said, matching his look "Besides it's not important"

"Did he ever give you any trouble after being posted here?" Gibbs asked

"No, we've only seen each other once since he arrived, and even then it wasn't for very long, we both had to be somewhere else" She answered, looking down, then looking back up at Gibbs

"Did he mention anything about somebody who may have wanted him dead?" Kate asked

"No, he didn't" She answered "He had a charm that worked on anyone who met him; he was fun to be around"

Gibbs raised his eyebrow as Lt Patterson started glaring at the Sergeant, but she didn't notice. "Ok, if either or you think of anything.." Kate said, getting up and handing out her card to the officers

"Yeah, we'll make sure to call you" the Lieutenant finished her sentence

* * *

Ok, that's Chapter 1 for you. I hope you like it! Some reviews would be greatly appreciated! 


	2. Chapter 2

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Summary: Whilst they're working on a case on a Navy ship, Tony bets Gibbs won't be able to go without coffee for a week and the result is much more interesting than any of them ever anticipated.

* * *

"Probie! Where do you think you're going? We haven't finished yet" Tony called to McGee

"To the bathroom Tony, I get sea-sick" McGee responded moving out of the room quickly

Tony and Ducky exchanged glances before getting back to work. "Good thing he didn't become a marine…" Tony said under his breath

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked "You finished yet?"

"Just finishing up now boss" Tony replied

"Where's McGee?" Gibbs asked

"I'm… right here…boss" McGee answered between breaths, walking shakily into the room

"Have you finished…" Gibbs started turning to the door "What's wrong with you? You look green. Go sit down"

"Thanks boss. I'm fine" McGee replied

"I wasn't asking you McGee! Sit down, or lay down. You're no good to me if you're sick" Gibbs said

"But I'm not…" McGee stopped as his face drained of color "Be right back boss" He said as he quickly made his exit from the room

Gibbs smirked and turned to Kate "When he's done, could you help him to the doctor's office? So, Ducky, what have we got?"

"Well I can't give you a time of death at this stage, from what I can gather, his body was kept cold, probably in a large freezer for some time. I won't be able to tell you more until I get him back" Ducky replied

"Could you estimate a time, Duck?" Gibbs asked

"If I had to give a rough time," Ducky began, and from a look from Gibbs continued, "I would say between …three and four days ago"

"Cause of death?" Gibbs asked, rubbing his eyes

"The majority of this bruising was done before our young officer was killed, what killed him was this wound" Ducky paused, pointing to the marine's throat where a large cut could be seen, "It looks like the cut, nicked a vein in his neck, making him bleed out. The rest of his wounds are post-mortem." Ducky said, stepping back and watching the body "You know, this reminds me of one of my first cases when I started at NCIS. One stormy night in winter…"

"Ducky!" Gibbs stopped him in his tracks, "Is there anything else we need to know that's relevant to the case?" As Ducky shook his head, Gibbs turned to DiNozzo "Finished yet?"

"Yes boss" Tony replied

"Good, take the stuff to the chopper, so Abs can start analyzing it. I'll get McGee to go with you Duck" Gibbs stated turning back to Ducky

"Ok. Let's get you home, my young boy." Ducky turned his attention to the body of the marine "Mr Palmer, shall we?"

"Yes, Doctor" Jimmy replied, bending down to help him.

* * *

"McGee, when you get back I want you to pull Lieutenant Mitchell's file" Gibbs told McGee as he sat in the chopper, "and Lieutenant Patterson and Sergeant Dowling" he added as an afterthought

"You think they're holding something back?" Kate asked

"No. I'm sure they are. Ducky, call me when you have something" Gibbs raised his voice as the chopper's blades began rotating. Gibbs closed the door as he step back. Gibbs, Tony and Kate watched as the chopper left the heli-pad and took-off.

"So, what are we gonna do now boss?" Tony asked

"Get something to eat" Gibbs replied shortly, moving away from the heli-pad

"Great! I'm starving" Tony said enthusiastically

"That's what happens when you don't eat breakfast Tony" Kate said

"I didn't have time for breakfast, or I would of been really late, and I didn't know if Gibbs had had his coffee yet" Tony said carefully. "Speaking of coffee, Gibbs. You look cranky"

Gibbs stopped and glared at Tony "Well yeah, DiNozzo, I am. A marine was murdered this morning"

"Actually, Ducky said between three and four days…" Tony stopped when Gibbs slapped him over the back of his head and glared at him again before stalking off.

"His last coffee was when? We're on un-chartered territory here Kate" Tony looked at Kate

"You're afraid of him, aren't you DiNozzo?" Kate asked, a smile spreading across her lips

"Hey, come on Kate. Me? Afraid of Gibbs? Yeah, right." Tony replied, "But, in any case, I've never seen him without coffee for more than 36 hours…and that's when he was in hospital"

They made their way to the cafeteria and stopped at the door to see Gibbs take a deep breath and heard him slowly describe the characteristics of coffee to a young man who barely looked 16, as if talking to a three-year-old. The young man nodded and pointed to a jug of peculated coffee. "See, no worries" Kate turned to Tony and stepping closer to the counter.

"That!" Gibbs pointed at the jug, still talking to the youth "Is…not…coffee!" Gibbs leaned over the counted threateningly, making the youth very nervous

"S-sorry s-sir. B-but that's all w-we h-have" the young man stammered

"Don't call me sir" Gibbs growled, glaring at the young man

"Ah, Gibbs? Calm down, I think you need something to eat" Kate told Gibbs, touching his arm

Gibbs flinched but didn't move his arm, he looked at Kate "I am calm" he said before storming off

"Well. That went down well" Tony remarked walking up to Kate. Kate gave him a withering look and left the cafeteria. "Hey! What happened to lunch?" Tony called after her.

After ten minutes, Kate returned and sat down opposite Tony at his table. "Has he come back yet? I couldn't find him"

"Nah, hasn't…come back yet" Tony said between mouthfuls, "You should really try this burger, it's great, and I'm usually not a fan of cafeteria food"

Kate rolled her eyes "Is that all you think about? Your stomach?"

Tony stopped eating and looked at Kate "Kate, how long have you known me? And you think I only think about my stomach? Come on! I think about all sorts of things, all parts of my anatomy, and other peoples" He said wriggling his eyebrows suggestively

"Why does everything always lead to sex with you Tony?" Kate asked

"It doesn't" Tony replied

"What? You were just talking about your anatomy" Kate said

"Yeah... I was talking about my stomach. What were you talking about Kate?" Tony asked innocently. As he finished his question, he felt somebody slap him over the back of his head. "D'oh, hi Gibbs, you're back. What was that for?"

"Whatever you were doing" Gibbs replied

"But, it wasn't me…Kate.." Tony started saying

"Don't want to hear it DiNozzo" Gibbs stated. "Kate, have you eaten?"

"Are you buying, I could really do another burger..." Tony said

"No. I was looking for you. Where did you go?" Kate asked, ignoring Tony

"Hey Kate! My mouth was moving, and sound was coming out, most people notice this as talking…" Tony said as Gibbs closed his eyes.

"Tony! Stop thinking of yourself, there are more important things in life than…" Kate began

"I wasn't thinking of myself, Kate! I was merely…" Tony interrupted

"Alright, cut it out, stop bickering!" Gibbs interrupted their argument, glaring at the both of them. "Kate, food?"

"In a sec. Where did you go? I looked everywhere for you" Kate replied

"I don't need a minder Kate. I'm capable of looking after myself" Gibbs said, turning to the menu

"Wouldn't mind looking after you" Kate said under her breath, looking away, not loud enough for him to hear

"So, what do you want?" He asked

"Boy, is that a loaded question?" Kate said as Gibbs raised his eyebrow

"Ha ha, Kate has a thing for…" Tony stopped when Gibbs slapped him over the back of his head "Sorry, boss. Go the burger Kate, it's unbelievably good!" he said, with a smirk and wriggling his eyebrows.

"Kate? Sometime today, would be good" Gibbs asked getting irritated

"Ah…small burger, thanks" Kate replied, Gibbs nodded and approached the counter

"Only a small one? You know…bigger is better" Tony asked, grinning

"Well, I guess that's just bad luck for you" Kate replied

"Ouch, Kate. Ouch!" Tony said, sitting back in his chair.

"So, why do you think somebody murdered Lieutenant Mitchell" Kate asked, changing the topic

"Unresolved sexual issues. Always is" Tony replied, putting his hands on his head

"You sound like you know Tony" Kate said

"Yeah, just ask Gibbs" he said, checking out an attractive woman who walked past

"She is so out of year league DiNozzo" Kate said, noticing his attention wander

"Oh yeah? A twenty says I can get her number" He replied, getting up and chasing after the woman.

Kate watched as he approached the woman, but gave up when she couldn't hear what they were saying. She turned her attention to the case, and began making a profile of the murderer in her mind from the small amount of information she had on the case. There were so many possibilities, it could be anyone. She looked around the cafeteria, subconsciously trying to identify the murderer as if they were there and would just pop up in-front of her. Then something caught her attention, on the other side of the room, she noticed Sergeant Dowling and Lieutenant Patterson having a heated discussion. She saw Lt Patterson suddenly get up and leave, leaving Srg Dowling alone at the table. Srg Dowling got up and walked out of the cafeteria in the same direction as the Lieutenant. Perhaps Tony was right, maybe it was unresolved sexual issues, she mused. She turned her attention to the counter where Gibbs was standing with his arms crossed, and looking irritated. She thought about what Tony had said about Gibbs and his lack of coffee, and being in unchartered waters. She had to admit, she'd never seen Gibbs without having had coffee for about 3 hours, at present it was around 8 hours since his coffee this morning… Kate's thoughts were interrupted as Tony came back to the table and sat down with a humph, she smiled.

"So, the sex machine didn't get her phone number?" Kate asked, smiling

"No. She's a lesbian" Tony replied

Kate started laughing "So, I guess you owe me a twenty"

"Doesn't count. Although she was interested in you, I gave her your phone number" Tony replied, laughing at the look on Kate's face

"Something funny, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he gave Kate her burger and sat down

"Yeah, Kate just.." after a look from Kate, Tony stopped "No, boss. It was nothing"

Gibbs nodded his head and started picking at his food. Over lunch the team went over the information they had and tried to make sense of it, coming up with only assumptions and more questions than they had to began with. After five minutes of speculating, they lapsed into silence. Kate finished her burger and looked at Gibbs, who was still playing with his food, which Tony was gazing at longingfully.

"You gonna eat that boss?" Tony eventually asked

"No" Gibbs sighed and pushed the plate away, which Tony collected and started eating again. Kate raised her eyebrows at Tony, who merely shrugged and said that he had a fast metabolism.

"I'm going out for some fresh air" Gibbs said, getting up to walk outside.

Kate watched Gibbs leave the room, feeling concerned. Kate's attention was side-tracked when two sailors a few tables away from them began raising their voices. One of the sailors stood up and pointed at the other man, shouting something illegible at him. The other sailor slowly stood up and tried to calm the outraged sailor down.

"What! There is no way in hell you don't have it! You were the only one who knew where it was! The only person I fucking told!" the sailor shouted

"No, I swear I didn't take it! Where the hell would I put it? I wouldn't do something like that!" the other sailor responded also raising his voice, trying to remain calm. Tony stood up, sensing this might get ugly, Kate following suit

"The hell you fucking wouldn't! I know your kind, you get somebody's trust, and when they least expect it, you fuck them over!" the sailor shouted again, managing to raise his voice again, pushing the other sailor backwards. Kate and Tony walked over to the table and tried to break up the situation.

"You calling me a thief!" the other sailor shouted, pushing the sailor back. Kate stepped in-front of the sailor, holding the two men apart, Tony doing the same with angrier of the two sailors.

"Okay, why don't you try to calm down" Kate told the man, but he wasn't listening

"Yeah! I am!" the sailor yelled. Pitching forward with his fist, connecting with Kate's head. Kate stumbled backwards and lost her balance as she tripped over something on the ground.

"Kate!" Tony called as Kate fell backwards, her head connecting with the side of the table before she lost consciousness.

* * *

Now, that's chapter 2 done for you all... I really hope you're enjoying it! Please review! 


	3. Chapter 3

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I wish I did, but I don't!

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews... a few more wouldn't go unnoticed though! Please! Oh, and a huge thank you to Kate for all her brilliant work!

* * *

Kate slowly opened her eyes, the bright light making her close them again. Her head was thumping. She tried to recall what had happened, but found her memory to be patchy; Gibbs getting frustrated with a young man with pimples, Gibbs picking at his food, why did all of her memories seem to have Gibbs in them? She tried to open her eyes again, resorting to squinting. For a few seconds, Kate was disorientated, where was she? She quickly realised where she was, in some kind of hospital, the smell gave it away.

"Hey, welcome back" Gibbs said softly, getting up from his chair

"Hi… What happened?" Kate croaked, trying to sit up, but laying back down when she started seeing stars

"You don't remember? You were hit when you tried to stop a fight. Tony is questioning the sailors now; they have a lot to answer for. Nobody hits one of my agents and gets away with it." Gibbs said looking at the wall with an emotion in his eyes that Kate had never seen him express before, but before she could identify it, it was gone. "The doctors took some head scans and said you have a severe concussion and want to keep you in overnight for observation."

"What? But…" Kate tried to think, she rubbed her eyes "How long was I out?"

"A few hours. Its just after 7 now, Tony and I took turns interviewing the friends and colleagues of the dead marine. We didn't want you to wake up and be alone" Gibbs replied, sighing

Kate attempted a smile "I'll be fine Gibbs"

"I know you will." He said straightening up; he pointed to the door "I'll tell Tony you woke, you should get some rest" Gibbs briefly touched her hand before walking out

Kate closed her eyes with a sigh. Gibbs had been worried about her, maybe it was a side-effect of the coffee, or lack there of… She dismissed the thought, maybe she was overreacting, perhaps he was just worried because one of his special agents had been injured. Their relationship was purely professional, he didn't have those kinds of feelings for her, he couldn't, and neither did she, or did she? Before Kate could work out her feelings her boss, Tony walked in.

"Oooh ouch Kate. You really have to watch where you walk, make sure there are no fists you may bump into" Tony said

"What! I just got punched Tony. You can't 'anticipate' that" Kate replied, recalling when Gibbs was teaching McGee a few pointers about being a field agent

"Yeah, I know, sorry. I don't really know how to act in hospitals, they creep me out" Tony said, checking out the nurse that had just walked in and had inserted something into Kate's IV, then left.

"I know the feeling" Kate agreed, then changed the subject, "So did you two find any leads on the marine?". At the confused expression on Tony's face, Kate continued "Gibbs said you guys took turns interviewing everybody who knew the marine"

"No. That would take all day, I did as many of them as I could, and Gibbs did a few as well, but..." his voice trailed off "Kate. When you hit the table, I called out to Gibbs, he kept pressure on your head wound till we got here. The doctors didn't let him in whilst they stitched up your head, he was driving me crazy, so I told him to start interviewing people"

"And he did what you told him?" Kate asked, skeptically

"Well, he refused to, shouted at me for a while. Then he left, when he came back, he'd interviewed several people. By that time you were out and in a normal room, he's barely left the room since" Tony explained. "Although that may be partly because he fell asleep for a while, but…" He left the sentence hanging there, then remembered something "Oh yeah, and he still hasn't had any coffee yet"

"Well maybe somebody is drugging him. How long has it been now?" She paused and tried to calculate the time, but it made her headache worse

"11, almost 12 hours" Tony replied

"See, that's very uncharacteristic of him, and falling asleep… I don't know, I never really saw him as the type of person who sleeps much. Yeah, that's what it …must be, somebody's drugged him, yeah." Kate said

"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" Tony asked, grinning broadly

"Um,…I was referring to…" Kate started feeling really sleepy, it was hard to keep her eyes open. She tried to brush it off, she looked at Tony, but couldn't focus on him

"Kate? You feeling tired?" Tony asked

"Yeah, all of a sudden. I …" She interrupted herself with a yawn

"Don't worry, it's all the drugs they gave you, they said this would probably happen" Tony told her. Kate just nodded and closed her eyes. "I'll see ya later, ok?" Tony walked out of the room

* * *

Kate opened her eyes, but the room was dark. She felt a presence in the room, just lingering, she waited for her eyes to adjust, but it didn't get any clearer.

"Hello?" She asked, sitting up

"Kate? It's Gibbs, I'm here" He replied

"What time is it?"

"Almost two. How are you feeling?"

"Better. What are you still doing here?"

"Our flight was grounded due to bad weather, so we had to stay here. Tony left about an hour ago, we finished the interviews, didn't turn up anything"

"Oh" Kate said, "I thought you finished the interviews before"

Gibbs paused, "I lied. I needed to know that you would be okay". Kate heard Gibbs get up, then felt his hand brush her cheek "You should get some sleep"

"So should you" Kate replied, hearing him smile

"Nah, I'm tough. And sleeps overrated anyway" He said, and added under his breath "I can think of better ways to fill my time"

But Kate didn't hear, she'd fallen asleep again.

* * *

When Kate woke, Gibbs was gone and the chair was empty. She yawned, then stretched and sat back, looking at the wall with sleepy eyes.

"Morning Kate" Tony said as he walked in and plonked himself down on the seat, putting his head in his hands

"Morning Tony" Kate answered, "What's up? Didn't sleep?"

"Well, yes and no. Gibbs is driving me insane. He's really cranky and is yelling at everybody" Tony said looking at her

"Really? What time is it?" She asked

"Time for breakfast" Gibbs replied, walking in with a take-out tray, putting it in front of Kate

"Aww, where's mine?" Tony asked

Gibbs just glared at him, then turned to Kate "The doctors said they want to keep you in here a bit longer before they discharge you"

"To hell with that. I'm not staying here!" Kate told him

"It wasn't a question, Agent Todd!" Gibbs said

"I wasn't asking, Agent Gibbs!" Kate replied

"Kate, he's right, you should stay here until you're cleared." Tony interrupted, "Besides, the chopper won't be leaving until midday anyway. The weather still has to clear and the chopper checked for take-off." Tony continued, watching their reactions, "So, it's settled. Now kiss and make-up"

Kate rolled her eyes, Gibbs slapped Tony over the back of his head and walked out, neither Kate or Tony seeing the grin on his face.

* * *

Thats it for chapter 3... I hope you like it! Reviews please! 


	4. Chapter 4

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I wish I did, but I don't!

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews... a few more wouldn't go unnoticed though! Please!

This chapter is a bit short, but the next one more than makes up for it

And again a huge thank you to Kate for all her brilliant work and ideas!

* * *

At midday, Gibbs returned to find Kate lying on her back, counting the tiles on the roof.

"How many?" He asked as he sat on the edge of her bed and looked up

"I got to three hundred and forty-seven, then I lost count." She replied looking at him.

The sat in silence, looking into each others eyes for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few seconds. They could almost see the tension in the air between them.

"You're doing better than what I got" Gibbs said, breaking eye contact, looking back up at the tiles "I couldn't get passed a hundred"

The ship gave a few jolts as they hit large waves, causing Gibbs to fall back on the bed. Gibbs began laughing, and turned his head to face Kate, who was leaning back again "Hi there"

"Hey boss, the cho… boss?" Tony asked as his walked in

Gibbs sat up "What DiNozzo?"

"Chopper's ready"

"I know!" Gibbs replied

"Ok, I'll wait for you there" Tony said walking out again

Kate got up, and found her clothes in the draw of the bed-side table. She looked at Gibbs, "Ah, Gibbs?"

"Yeah, Kate" he replied

"I need to change" Kate said

"Yeah right. I'll wait outside" Gibbs said as he walked out of the room

When Kate had finished, Gibbs went back in. "The doctors aren't happy that you're leaving so soon, but I told them I'd get Ducky to give you a check up when you get back", when Gibbs saw that Kate was about to argue, he continued, "They also didn't want you to walk to the chopper, said it would be safer if you went in a wheel-chair"

"Gibbs, I am not…" Kate started but was interrupted by Gibbs, who raised his voice,

"However, I knew you would never settle for that, so here," He moved towards her and took her arm, putting it over his shoulders, putting his arm around her back, "Lean on me, it'll help. If you need to stop, just tell me"

"Why don't you just carry me?" Kate asked

"I would, but it's too far" Gibbs replied

* * *

Tony stood by the heli-pad waiting for Kate and Gibbs to appear. It'd been one hell of a day, and it had just started, he wasn't looking forward to the three-hour flight to get back to the base. Gibbs was still very cranky because he hadn't had coffee in around 28 hours and was probably going through withdrawals from the lack of caffeine. Tony looked up as he saw Gibbs supporting Kate as they walked towards the chopper.

"Hey, what took so long?" Tony asked, his concern evident

"We had to stop a few times" Kate responded, from the look on Tony's face she added "I'm fine, we had to stop for Gibbs"

Tony looked at Gibbs who had gone slightly pale and had sweat beads on his forehead

"Gibbs?" Tony asked

"DiNozzo! Get on the damn chopper" Gibbs barked between breaths

"Yes boss. Do either of you need help getting onto the chopper?" Tony asked

"No thanks Tony" Kate replied climbing into the chopper. Tony looked at Gibbs with a questioning look

"If I need your help DiNozzo, I'll ask for it!" Gibbs told him, recovering his breath, getting slowly into the chopper, sitting next to Kate.

Tony climbed in after him and sat opposite them, closing the door as he did so. The blades started turning and soon the chopper had taken off. Tony looked out the window and watched the ship slowly disappear. He sighed and looked back at Gibbs and Kate, to see that they'd fallen asleep, Kate had her head on Gibbs' shoulder and Gibbs had his head on-top of hers. Tony tilted his head to the side, a grin creeping across his face, he reached into his bag, and took out the camera, taking a picture of them. He could use this against Kate later, he smiled as he recalled the wet t-shirt contest photo and how he had bugged Kate with it. He looked back to Gibbs and Kate and wondered what Gibbs had done with that photo…

* * *

That's it for chapter 4... I hope you like it! Reviews please! 


	5. Chapter 5

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I wish I did, but I don't!

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews... a few more wouldn't go unnoticed though! Please!

This chapter is a bit long, but I got a bit carried away

Again a humongous thank you to Kate for her inspiration and fantastic ideas!

* * *

McGee watched as the chopper came in and landed. He walked across the heli-pad and opened the door of the chopper to find all three occupants asleep. He looked at Tony who was leaning against the window, snoring softly, then looked to Kate and Gibbs who were leaning against each other, Gibbs' arm around Kate. Kate didn't look good, she had a bruise over her left-eye, and Gibbs didn't look much better, he knew the man hadn't had coffee in over a day, but he didn't expect this, Gibbs was pale and shivering. He should call Ducky. But before he could move, Gibbs opened his eyes.

"We're here," he said softly, removing his head, from its position, he looked at McGee, "Well are you just gonna stand there? Or are you gonna help us unload? Tony! Kate! We're back!". Tony and Kate opened their eyes and got up, stepping out of the chopper to stretch their legs. Gibbs let them get off first before doing the same. They collected their bags and went into the base. As they walked into the bullpen, McGee told them that Ducky was waiting for them. The agents dropped off their bags and wordlessly got onto the elevator, McGee unused to the silence tried to make conversation but gave up when it was clear they didn't want to talk.

They got out of the elevator and entered the morgue where Ducky awaited them.

"Ah, Jethro. I was wondering when you would come and see me" He said without looking up

"What have you got for me Duck?" Gibbs asked, looking at the body of the dead marine

"Well I was right, our marine was frozen," Ducky paused looking up, a frown coming across his face "Jethro, are you okay? You look the living dead, you could almost be mistaken for one of my corpses"

"Thanks Ducky. The marine, you were saying he was frozen" Gibbs replied

"The marine, Jethro, can wait" Ducky told him

"He just hasn't had coffee in almost 30 hours Ducky. Watch out, he's really cranky" Tony said, pre-empting the clip over the back of his head, he moved out of range

Gibbs just glared at him as he said "I'm fine Ducky. The marine?"

"Ahh. 30 hours since you last had caffeine. You're going through withdrawals Jethro" Ducky told him, ignoring Gibbs' question. "Yes, when I was training to be a medical examiner, one of our lecturer's lost his pain medication. In his seminar that day he showed us on a corpse how to remove somebody's spleen, but took out the young man's liver instead"

Kate, Tony and McGee chuckled, "Oh, but that was nothing in comparison to one of the chemistry lecturers who blew up the chemistry lab when he was coming off of.." Ducky began again

"Ducky!" Gibbs barked. "The marine, how long?"

"What marine?" Ducky asked

"Ahh! I need a coffee!" Gibbs said heading towards the elevator. McGee, Kate and Tony followed him.

In the elevator, Tony looked at Gibbs with an amused expression on his face "I bet you couldn't go a week without coffee Gibbs"

"You're probably right DiNozzo. Guess we'll never know" Gibbs replied

"What if I bet you, that you couldn't do it. If I win I get another week off over spring break" Tony said

"Why would I do that DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked

"Ah…because you love me" Tony replied. Gibbs glared at him, then turned back to the door, "If you win I'll give you a bottle of jack."

The doors of the elevator opened, then shut as nobody moved. "How big?" He asked turning to Tony

Tony thought about it, "A big one"

"You seem confident DiNozzo" Gibbs stated

"That's because I know you'll never do it" Tony replied

"It's a deal" Gibbs told him, "I like coffee, but I can go a week without it" Gibbs turned around when the doors opened again to find they were back in the morgue. He walked back to where Ducky was, "Ducky, time?"

"Ah, Jethro, you're back. Four days ago. Likely between ten pm and midnight" Ducky replied

"Ok. What's the time now Duck?" Gibbs asked

"Four thirty" Ducky replied

"Ok DiNozzo, its been thirty-two hours, that's a day and eight hours" Gibbs told him

"Wait a sec boss. I meant a week from now" Tony said

"Well, you said a week without coffee, that means from the moment of my last coffee, which includes yesterday" Gibbs responded, challenging him to argue

"What's going on here?" Ducky asked

"Gibbs accepted a bet from Tony. If he can go a week without coffee, he gets a big bottle of Jack" McGee replied

"Yeah, and when he doesn't, I get an extra week of leave" Tony added

"I don't approve of this Jethro, this could make you very ill" Ducky told Gibbs

"Are you saying I can't do this?" Gibbs asked

"No, Tony's saying that" Kate replied instead

"Jethro, I have no doubt you can do this, but you shouldn't put your body through that much stress" Ducky responded, sighing. He looked at the team, they looked tired "It's been a rough couple of days, I suggest you all go home and rest, and return in the morning refreshed. Caitlin, let me have a look at your eye, its rather swollen"

Kate walked over to join Ducky who gestured to an empty table. Tony and McGee left with a nod from Gibbs, who stayed whilst Ducky gave her a quick exam. "Jethro, Caitlin's injuries, whilst better, are still a bit of a concern." Then turning to Kate, he continued, "I would suggest you spend the night in hospital, just in case, but I know you're as stubborn as you're boss who believes he can do anything. Jethro, you shouldn't be left alone tonight either and I'm not going to suggest you go to hospital. Would you let me give you a once over before you leave? Good, come here" Ducky said without waiting for a response. With Ducky's okay, Kate and Gibbs left autopsy and got their bags from the bullpen.

"So, where's your car parked?" Gibbs asked as they got back into the elevator

"At home, I caught a taxi here yesterday" Kate replied

"Of course, you had a date with Shane" Gibbs said, "Is he picking you up?

"You remember that?" Kate asked, shocked

"Yeah," Gibbs looked at her then back at the doors, saying quietly "How could I forget?", then saying louder "So is he picking you up?"

"No, it didn't work out, I ended up sleeping at a friends house" Kate admitted as the doors opened and they walked out

"Why?" Gibbs asked

"He didn't show up" Kate replied looking up into his eyes, "I'll see you tomorrow Gibbs"

"Oh no you don't. Ducky said he didn't want you left alone"

"No, Ducky said he didn't want you left alone"

"So, what's the problem?"

"I don't think it's a good idea Gibbs. With both of us in the state we are in now…"

"Kate, he didn't say we had to sleep together, he just said he didn't want us left alone. But, of course, if you have a better offer, I won't stop you, I'm just worried about you"

"Wow! The rock has feelings!"

"Right" Gibbs said turning away, walking away "forget it. See you tomorrow Kate"

"Wait! Gibbs I didn't mean it like that"

"It's okay Kate. I'm fine, I understand. See you tomorrow" With that Gibbs walked off to his car. Gibbs reached his car and sat inside, putting his head in his hands. His head was thumping and he couldn't think straight. He sat up and looked out the windscreen, not registering anything. He turned on the engine and left the parking lot, pulling up outside the taxi bay where Kate was standing. He wound down the window and called out to her, when she didn't respond to him, he put on the hand-brake and got out of the car.

"Kate. Ah, do you want a lift?" He asked

"My place is a bit out of the way isn't it Gibbs?" She asked. "Besides I've already called a taxi"

"Yeah, well you won't be catching it." Gibbs stated "I don't trust taxi drivers or their driving"

"Well, I don't trust your driving!" Kate responded

"Kate, get in the goddamn car! Stop being so bloody stubborn" Gibbs snapped

Kate slowly walked to the sedan and got in, Gibbs following suit. They traveled in silence for the first ten minutes. Kate turned on the radio to break the silence, to find that the radio was broken, producing a high pitched squealing noise. Kate looked at questioningly at Gibbs, who shrugged "Somebody stole my car for a few days, was caught when they tried to cross the border into Canada. The radio came back in that condition, the car repairer said it was something to do with the base…"

"Gibbs, you're car was stolen six months ago, most people would have gotten the radio fixed by now" Kate said

With a smirk, Gibbs replied "I'm not in the car long enough to listen to the radio", as if to illustrate the point, Gibbs slowed down, before coming to a stop in-front of Kate's house "We're here".

Kate rolled her eyes and collected her bag. "Thanks" She said as she got out of the car, then turned back "would you like to come in for coffee?"

"I'd love to come in for coffee" Gibbs replied, shutting off the engine and opening his door.

They walked to her front door, but when Kate opened the door, Gibbs didn't move. Kate stopped and looked back at him "Well, would you like to come in or just stay there?"

"I'd like to come in," he replied, his face falling "but I can't. If I come in and have coffee, then I lose the bet with DiNozzo"

"Exactly" She said with a smirk

Gibbs frowned, "I've never lost a bet in my life Kate. I'm not about to start now"

"I see. Didn't really take you for the betting type Gibbs. Well, I have a whole bottle of Jack if you want some of that instead"

His frown disappeared and was replaced with a smirk, raising his eyebrow he said "Didn't really take you for the type that drinks Jack, Kate"

"I don't"

"So, why do you have a bottle of it?"  
Kate realised he'd backed her into a metaphorical corner, she would never tell him that she had that bottle in-case he decided to drop by, "One of my sisters drinks it, she was here a few months ago and accidentally left it behind"

He broke out into a full smile "Kate, you don't have any sisters"

"She's not a real sister Gibbs. We went to NROTC together" She tried to cover it up, a bit too quickly

"Why does that make you sisters" He asked, confused

"Gibbs, did you ever have a friend who was really close, almost like a brother? Or uncle?" She asked, when Gibbs raised his eyebrow and still had a clueless expression on his face, she continued "You know, like they are adopted family members. People have close friends who they might call 'Uncle Mike' or 'Auntie Liz" … No? okay well we were close, we had the same interests and … we were like sisters. Like I see Abby as a sister, and Tony and McGee as brothers"

"The more I know, the less I understand" Gibbs responded

"So, was that a yes? Or a no?" Kate asked, referring to the Jack

Gibbs thought about if for a second, not wanting to seem too eager, "I suppose a drink wouldn't hurt"

Gibbs walked in and looked around as Kate closed and locked the door. "Nice place you have here"

"It's not too bad. A place to call home" Kate replied, "I'm just going to change, make yourself at home"

"Thanks" Gibbs replied, walking into the Kitchen. He looked through the cupboards and found a whiskey glass, then continued looking, eventually locating a wine glass. He opened the fridge, noting that it contained mostly half-eaten meals and microwave food, he was going to have to teach Kate how to cook. He looked in the door of the fridge and called to Kate "White or bubbles?", picking out the white and pouring it into the wine glass without waiting for a reply

"White, thanks" She called back

Gibbs went looking for the bottle of Jack, but instead found a packet of coffee. He picked it up and opened it, breathing in the rich aroma. He looked up to find Kate had re-entered the room, wearing a slightly revealing black three-quarter length top with a v-neck and jeans. She looked stunning.

"I thought you said you weren't going to have coffee" Kate said, after a few seconds, she had noticed how he looked at her when she walked in, and smiled.

Gibbs gave her a questioning look, momentarily forgetting the coffee packet in his hand. Then recovered "I'm impressed. This is quality coffee, grown in Jamaica. Not grounded yet so the flavor lasts longer, keeping locked in until its ground". He did up the packet and put it away. "So, where's the coffee? I mean, Jack?"

Kate walked to another cupboard, pulling out an un-opened bottle of Jack "I keep all my alcohol in here". She walked to the counter where he had poured her wine, and poured the Jack into his glass "You take it straight?"

"I'd have it no other way" He replied.

Kate replaced the bottle and led the way to her lounge room, sitting on her couch and making room for Gibbs to join her. Gibbs sat next to her on the couch and took a sip of the Jack, closing his eyes and putting his head back.

"What a day" he remarked

"Yeah" she said. She watched him take another sip of the Jack, he looked tired.

"Kate?" he asked

"Yeah?" She replied

"Earlier, you said that you thought of Abby as a sister, and DiNozzo and McGee as brothers," He told her

"Yes..?" She responded, already knowing where he was going with this

"So what do you see me as?" He asked opening his eyes and sitting up to watch her reaction.

"I'm not sure, I haven't really thought about it." She lied "And yourself, what do you see me as?" she returned the question

"Not sure, never really thought about it" He lied, putting his head back again and closing his eyes. Gibbs thought about what had happened over the last day and a half, Kate had startled him when she first made that comment on the ship about not seeing his boat, but had ignored it afterwards, the case distracting him. For a while at least, until Kate had been injured. As he'd put pressure on her head wound, watching the blood leave her body, he thought he was going to lose her, and in that moment he realised that she meant more to him than just an agent. And that thought had scared him, he couldn't let that happen, he knew that relationships in the work place never worked, he was living proof. But yet here he was, it was happening again, and he couldn't control it, and he didn't like things he couldn't control. One of his ex-wife's had called him a control-freak, and she was right. He had stayed with her as she recovered from the blow to her head, knowing that he had an investigation to run, interrogations to do, but he couldn't bring himself to leave, afraid that something bad would happen to her if he did. But for a while he believed that it might work, after twenty minutes of sleeping on the chopper, he had woken to find DiNozzo asleep, leaning against the window, and Kate asleep as well, leaning on his shoulder. He'd watched her sleep for a while before putting his arm around her, pulling her body closer to his, then had fallen asleep again. He knew that they had landed well before McGee had opened the door, but he played sardines, pretending to be asleep so he could be close to Kate a little while longer. But when he had gotten out of the chopper, his world came crashing in again and he'd put the walls back up, determined not to let anyone in, no one would know, except Ducky. Ducky always knew, he knew the real reason why Gibbs had hired her and why Gibbs had always liked the gym sessions. Hell, Ducky would have known before he even did.

"Gibbs?" he heard Kate call him

"Ducky" Gibbs said sleepily

"Ducky?" Kate asked, confusion evident in her voice

"Ducky knows" he mumbled. Kate shook him, he opened his eyes and looked at her. He must have dozed off, he didn't think he had been that tired.

"Ducky knows what Gibbs?" She asked.

Gibbs sat up, "Ducky knows a lot of things" he said cryptically, downing the rest of the Jack left in his glass. "What's the time? I should probably leave"

"You can't leave. I've already ordered take-out" Kate replied "Chinese. Want another Jack?" She asked, getting up from the couch to get the bottle

Gibbs nodded, holding out his glass when she came back. Kate put the bottle on the coffee table and sat down again. "How do you feel?" Kate finally asked

"Fine" He replied

"No, Gibbs, really" she prompted

He sighed and took a sip of the Jack. "I have a headache, I'm tired and I feel like a grumpy old man"

"Oh, I don't think you're old" Kate said, moving closer and putting her hand on his knee

Gibbs looked over at her and raised his eyebrow. "Exactly how much wine have you had?" he asked looking back at the kitchen to find the bottle of white was almost empty, he did a mental calculation, she'd had half the bottle, he must have dozed off for longer than he thought. He looked into her brown eyes, she wasn't drunk, but she wasn't sober either.

"Not a lot" she replied "but you need to catch up" she indicated his glass with the movement of her eyes towards his glass

"If I didn't know any better, Agent Todd, I would think you were trying to get me pissed" he said, slightly amused

"No, Agent Gibbs. I'm trying to seduce you" she replied

Before he had the chance to reply to her comment, the door bell rang. It seemed to go unnoticed as they both continued to gaze into each others eyes. He was in dangerous territory here, he was alone in a room with a very attractive women, who had probably had too much to drink. He mentally back-tracked, he had to get out of here. "I'll get it, it's probably the Chinese" he said, getting up.

He answered the door and paid the man, bringing the bags of food back to the lounge room. "We eating in here?" He asked

"As long as you don't make a mess" She replied

He put the food on the table and sat down on the couch again, trying to keep his distance. As they ate, they made small talk, mostly about the case. He felt himself relax again when she seemed to sober up, laughing at some of the odd habits of their colleagues. As he finished his meal and put the box on the table, his phone rang.

He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it, "Gibbs".

Kate watched as his face as he put the walls back up, and listened to the one-sided conversation.

"No, I'm at a colleague's house…going over work…No, I won't be meeting you later…yeah, I know this is important…yeah…no…thankyou!..." he flipped the phone closed, hanging up on whoever had rang him. She gave him a questioning look, he shrugged "My ex-wife. She's in town for a while and wanted to meet up. She may be staying here longer than she expected though, looks like she's going to get a job around here somewhere". He finished off the rest of his Jack and poured himself another. "You know, I sometimes wander how men in other countries can have so many wives, bigamy is having one wife too many. I say monogamy is the same thing"

"Didn't stop you from getting married three times" She said

"Then divorced three times" He responded, having another sip of Jack and cradling the glass in his hands. "It was never going to work in the first place anyway. I'm married to my job – according to my third wife. I mean, I liked them, I think I may have loved them, for a while and it wasn't hard to live with them"

"Don't marry someone you can live with… You marry someone you can't live without" Kate said

"That's very profound of you Kate" Gibbs said

"Yeah, well I didn't make it up, I heard Fornell say it, and couldn't help thinking it made sense" She replied.

Gibbs laughed "Didn't stop him from marrying my second ex-wife. You can certainly live without her".

Kate smiled, she loved it when he smiled. She went to say something but was interrupted with a yawn, "Sorry, I'm not actually tired.."

"Kate, never apologize. I should probably go, you need your sleep" Gibbs said

"Right," Kate said looking down, she looked back up and asked him hesitantly, "Um, could you, ah, just hang around until I fall asleep or something, I just…"

"Of course" Gibbs replied

They stayed on the couch, recounting stories of things that had happened since they had been in NCIS, until eventually Kate fell asleep. Gibbs watched her, as her chest rose and fell with each breath. He told himself he would leave soon, he just wanted to stay a little while longer…

* * *

That's it for chapter 5... I hope you like it! Reviews please! 


	6. Chapter 6

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I wish I did, but I don't!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews I'm happy you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

I apologize for any errors in the fic in the way of military regulations and structures. I am a university student from Australia- a world away from NCIS, so even though I try to keep this as real as possible, I acknowledge that there will be a few things wrong with it.

Again a gigantic thank you to Kate for her inspiration and fantastic ideas!

* * *

Gibbs woke up and looked around, a bit disorientated. Then he remembered, he was at Kate's place, he must have dozed off again. He looked down at Kate's sleeping form, she looked peaceful. Somehow, during the night, she'd cuddled closer to him. He looked at his watch; it was still early, 0400. Carefully, he got up, trying not to disturb her. He looked at how her head was positioned on the couch, and after deciding that she would most likely have a headache and neck-ache in the morning, tried to wake her. She briefly came to, and looked at him confusedly.

"I should get you into bed" He said as way of explanation

Kate smiled, smirking she said "You know, I think I could get to like you without your coffee"

Gibbs grinned, "That's not what I meant. I, um, sleeping in your bed would be more comfortable than the couch. For you, that is," Kate smiled at his slight discomfort, "Ah, what I mean is, you need a good nights rest and you won't get that on a couch. I need my agents to be alert and ready for anything, you can't do that with a headache and a sore neck in the morning"

Kate nodded, still smiling and slowly got up from the couch. Gibbs let her lean on him for support (that they both knew she didn't really need), as they made their way to her bedroom. Kate plonked herself down on her bed and within minutes, was again fast asleep. Gibbs watched her and smiled, he silently closed her bedroom door and left the apartment. He could get a few more hours rest before going to work. He got into his car and reclined the seat, deciding that there wasn't much point going home to his own bed, he could still get to work early and change into the set of fresh clothes he had there before anybody got to the office. He closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Abby looked up from the monitor when she heard the elevator ding and watched Gibbs walk into the lab.

"Hey, Boss-man! Wow…what happened to you?" Abby shouted over the music, noting his pale-appearance and beads of sweat on his fore-head.

"Nothing, I'm fine. What have you got for me?" he asked, turning off the music and turning to her

"What, no caff-Pow? Ok, lets try this again, and this time with a please" Abby replied

"Abby!" Gibbs barked, but Abby ignored him

"Oh, this is that coffee thing" Abby said, straightening up saying, "Ducky told me" with a glare from Gibbs she said, "Ok…well, I analysed the fibers you gave and found something really hinky" Abby pulled up some pictures of the fibers and showed him the moniter

"Put them on the plasma, Abby" Gibbs said, turning to the screen

"Notice anything weird?" Abby asked, bursting to tell him

Gibbs looked back at Abby, "No," Gibbs waited for her to launch into an explanation, "But you're going to tell me…"

"Thought you'd never ask. These hairs aren't human. They're from a dog" Abby announced

Gibbs frowned, "A dog killed Lt Mitchell?" he said, skeptical

"No. I just thought it was interesting… Anyhow, I also analysed the blood found in Srg Dowling's cabin. Most were Lt Mitchell's, but I also found that some was Lt Patterson's"

"How much? Could it have been caused by something else, maybe he cut himself shaving"

"Unlikely. Unless he was a haemophiliac," Abby said. Gibbs raised his eyebrow and Abby continued, "But he's not"

Gibbs nodded, "Anything else?"

"Not yet. I'm still waiting for a couple of results. I had a system breakdown yesterday, and today the system is still slow"

"Ok, call me when you get something" Gibbs said, walking out

"Will do" Abby shouted after him, as she turned her music back on.

* * *

Tony looked up from his work, and looked at Kate's desk. The corners of his mouth turning up as he realised what Kate's ringtone was, Sex in the City. He got up and scanned the bullpen, then moving to Kate's desk, he looked at the caller's ID. He picked up the phone as Kate ran in…

"Tony! Give me the phone" She said, glaring at him

Tony shrugged, "It's Shane"

Tony sat on the edge of her desk as he listened to the one-sided conversation. "Hello…no…oh, really? Is that right?...Your mum…I see…"

"DiNozzo! Don't you have work to do?" Gibbs walked in, glaring at Tony

"Cancer…right…I'm sorry…" Kate said looking up

Gibbs glanced at Kate, questioningly raising his eyebrow, then looking back at Tony

"It's Shane" Tony replied to the unasked question, "He's about to ask her out"

Gibbs turned around and walked to his desk, tuning in to Kate's conversation

"Yeah…I know…tonight? Okay…at seven. You choose where…ah huh…okay, cya there" Kate flipped her phone closed, looking up at the two men, "What?"

"I'm getting a coffee" Gibbs said, grabbing his coat

"Ooooh, I'll pay" Tony said eagerly, getting up

"For Abby! DiNozzo!" Gibbs responded

"Boss, Abby doesn't drink coffee, she…" Tony stopped as Gibbs slapped him over the back of his head.

Tony rubbed his head and watched Gibbs leave. He turned to Kate, "Somebody didn't get enough sleep last night. He must've seen one of his ex-wives last night, they always bring out the best in him" he said walking back to his desk

"No, but one of them called him" Kate replied off-handedly

Tony stopped and turned around "How do you know?" he raised his eye-brows. When Kate didn't answer, he put things together, "He was with you last night, wasn't he?"

"No" Kate all of a sudden found her computer very interesting

"Kate, I'm a seasoned investigator. I know when people are lying to me and you're not a good lyer. Now, spill…"

"Don't be stupid Tony" Kate said

"You two slept together, didn't you" Tony sat on the edge of her desk

"No, nothing happened. Ducky said he didn't want either of us alone" Kate said. Tony raised his eyebrows, smirking, "Nothing happened Tony"

"What didn't happen?" Abby asked, walking in

"Gibbs and Kate slept together" McGee said, joining the conversation

"Kate" Abby said, grinning "wow, girl. We gotta talk"

"Nothing happened" Kate insisted

"Did you screw his brains out?" Abby asked

"Abby, that is so much more than I needed to know" Tony said

"Tony, don't interrupt, we're having an important conversation" Abby replied, looked back to Kate

"Nothing happened! He fell asleep on the couch and left before I woke up" Kate said

The elevator dinged and Gibbs walked into the bull-pen, mumbling something about forgetting his wallet. He walked to his desk, then stopped and looked at his team who were staring at him, "What! Don't you all have work to do?"

Tony and McGee went back to their desks as Abby quickly made a bee-line for the elevator, "Abby! What are you doing up here? Don't you have test to run?"  
"Looking for you" she responded, "The system broke down again"

"So fix it!" he snapped, walking away

"Gibbs!" she called after him, but he'd already gone. She sighed and rang his cell

"Gibbs!" he answered

"I found something" Abby said, hanging up. She looked at Kate, who simply said that it'd been over 2 days since his last coffee. Abby looked up as she heard the elevator ding and Gibbs walk out, looking more grumpy than he had before, if that was possible

Abby launched into her findings before he could ask. "Ok, so before the system crashed again, I managed to crack some of Lt Mitchell's files. They were stored in a secret file hidden in the depths of his hard drive, which would delete itself if…" Abby said, gloating

"Abby, I think he just wants to know what you found" McGee interrupted carefully. Gibbs glared at him, then back at Abby, pursing his lips

"Yes, McGee, I know, I'm getting there. Anyways, I hacked into his files and retriefced some really interesting stuff – and not just porn" She said, glancing at Tony, then looking back at Gibbs, "He kept a diary" she announced

"Of?" Gibbs asked

"Everything" She replied, bouncing forward onto her toes

"Anything relevant to the case Abs?" Gibbs asked, clearly frustrated

"Yes and no. Kinda depends. But I read some of his entries and found that he'd been with Srg Dowling on a personal level"

"Yeah, we know that already Abby" Gibbs stated

"But you don't know that they'd been seeing each other whilst they were on the ship" Abby replied

"Whilst she was with Lt Patterson" Tony voiced what was on all their minds

"Yep" Abby confirmed, bouncing on her toes

"That's a pretty good motive for murder" Kate said

"Get Srg Dowling and Lt Patterson off that ship and down here. I want them both in interrogation at 0900 tomorrow! Abby, I want those diary entries!" Gibbs rattled off, going back to the elevator.

* * *

That's it for chapter 6... I hope you like it! Reviews please! 


	7. Chapter 7

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews I'm happy you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Again a huge thank you to Kate for her great work and inspiration:-)

* * *

Tony looked at the clock again and sighed, it was almost as if time was going backwards. He had been pulling the files of every officer they had talked to whilst they had been on the ship. He looked back down at the file he had in front of him, and read the same line for the sixth time, and still he didn't see it. One of his friends had organized a boy's night out, he was celebrating something, but Tony had forgotten what, as far as he was concerned, you didn't need an excuse to go out. It was starting to rain outside, the weather had been threatening to rain all day, occasionally spitting, but not doing much more. He knew his friends didn't like it when there was foul weather, he hoped it wouldn't put them off. There was nothing like forgetting about everything by downing a few beers. He looked back at the clock, almost dinner time. Tony thought about dinner and what he'd have, he had that gut feeling they'd be eating at the office again tonight and as usual they would get Chinese…

"Kate?" Tony asked, turning to her desk

"Tony" She replied, not looking up

"Weren't you supposed to be going out with Shane tonight?" He asked, raising his eyebrows, then looking at the clock, continued "It's just passed 1800 now; you're meeting him in an hour"

"Who says?" She asked, looking up at him

"Uh, you" He responded

"Yeah, well I won't be going" she answered

"Why won't you be going where, Agent Todd?" Gibbs asked, walking in

"To dinner with Shane. He gave me some excuse about his mum having cancer which is apparently why he couldn't make it the other night" Kate replied, focusing on her computer, "I didn't buy it"

"Sounds like a good excuse to me" McGee said

"Well it would be, if his mum wasn't dead already. She died seven years ago, apparently OD'd on a cock-tail of drugs" Kate said

"You did a work-up on him" Gibbs said, with a small smile "Thatta girl, Katie. DiNozzo, you gonna read that page again? I was hoping for those files today." Gibbs turned to Tony

"Ah, yes boss. Nothing so far" Tony replied

"Nothing?" Gibbs sighed and rubbed his eyes "What else did we find on our two officers who found Lt Mitchell, McGee?"

"Srg Dowling's file is completely clean, nothing on her civilian record either." McGee replied

"Not even a parking ticket?" Kate asked

"Nah. She doesn't own a car, never has, she caught buses" McGee replied. Tony snickered, Gibbs glared at him. "But, Lt Patterson's another story" McGee continued "He's been put on report twice for disobeying direct orders,"

"Sounds like he has a problem with authority" Tony remarked

"Yeah, it was also noted that he's been involved in a few fights with fellow officers, but it didn't give me any details. I'm still looking into that. When he was in college, they found drugs in his room, he claimed they weren't his, they couldn't prove anything and the charges went away" McGee said

"Why?" Gibbs asked

"Don't know. They took him to court, but when they went to give evidence, it had disappeared, it seems somebody had broken into the evidence store the night before and stolen that as well as some other stuff, never found out who was behind it. There wasn't enough evidence to go ahead with any trial, so they had to drop the charges and let him go" McGee replied, "Also there was one or two complaints of sexual harassment, but they went away as well, apparently the victims changed their story"

"And he's still in the navy. That's a few black marks against his name" Tony said

"Yeah, but I had to do some digging to find it. On his official record, there's nothing about the drugs or sexual harassment stuff. His civilian records tell a similar story, only things like parking tickets and speeding fines, but I also found charges for assault. I'm still trying to get more info on that though, from what I found out, he put some guy in hospital." McGee said

"It's a bit like somebody's covering for him" Kate speculated

"I think you might be right. His parents are fairly powerful people, they're very wealthy. I've been trying to gain access to their financial records to see if they made any large withdrawals around the times that Lt Patterson was in trouble" McGee continued

"You think his parents were tipping somebody off to keep the marks off his records" Kate said

"So, why don't you have the records yet?" Gibbs asked

"My computer had a virus, it's still running slowly. I've only got this much because I was using one of Abby's computers yesterday before the system crashed" he answered

"Can't you make it go faster?" Gibbs asked

McGee was about to reply when all of the power in the office went out, leaving the team in darkness. Gibbs swore.

"Ahh, can't be all bad boss, at least we can go home early" Tony stated, "Ow, how'd you know where I was?" Tony said as Gibbs clipped him over his head

"It's not hard to locate your position when you keep talking Tony" Kate replied

"Don't we have a back-up generator boss?" McGee asked

"Let's hope it still works" Gibbs replied, sitting down

A flash of lightening lit up the room, followed closely by a big crash of thunder

"Cool" Tony said, going to watch the lightening show out the window

"You still fascinated by storms Tony?" Kate asked

"You still scared of them Kate?" Tony replied

"I used to be scared of thunderstorms. At our camp in junior high, there was a thunderstorm. My friends and I got out of our tent and sat in the rain watching the storm, we had a great view, the lightening was right above us. Then the lightening struck a tree and a branch fell off and crushed the tent we had just been in." McGee said

"You went camping?" Kate asked

"You had friends?" Tony asked

"You almost died" Gibbs said

"Yeah, then we got hyperthermia from being in the rain. Didn't go camping again" McGee said

There was another flash of lightening and crash of thunder, it sounded closer now

"Hey guys! You sharing creepy camping stories?" Abby came in and sat down, then added as way off explanation that she had walked in on the tail end of McGee's story, "By the way, that was a pretty cool story"

"Thanks Abby" McGee replied

"Welcome. When I was 12 or 13 or something, we went camping. We followed some convey and it had started raining, the guys in the car in front of us were doing snakes on the dirt track, it was so cool. Anyway we camped for the night, and about 2 am, I woke up cos I heard people moving around. We were flooded out, turns out we camped in the middle of a dried out river bed" Abby said, "My parents weren't happy, but I thought it was cool, I would so do that again"

They all laughed. Tony came back from the window and sat with everyone else, they could almost see now as their eyes had adjusted to the darkness and there was light coming in from the window.

"Ok, Tony, your turn. Creepy camping story" Abby said

"Don't have one, never really went camping as a kid. But I do remember when me and this girl – ah, woman, sorry Kate – me and this woman went skinny dipping and…" Tony started

"Do we really want to hear this DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked

"Ah, it's nothing naughty boss, um. Anyway we were gonna go for a swim under the waterfall but we saw a salt water croc. We left pretty fast" Tony said

"I'll bet you did" Kate said

"Ok, Kate, you next" Abby said

"Why me?" Kate asked

"Why not? You're next in our circle" Abby responded

"Ahhh, there you all are. Do you think the power will come back on Jethro? I don't want to think about what might happen to the bodies in my morgue if it doesn't…" Ducky said, as he walked in

"Hey Duck-man! I thought you left already." Abby responded

"No. I'm not leaving early today Abigail, I believe you are thinking of tomorrow" Ducky said

"The back-up generators should kick in soon Ducky" McGee said

"Why are you leaving early tomorrow?" Tony asked

"I have to attend a conference. Apparently I won't learn anything new, but I've been told I need to go, Anthony" Ducky responded

"How boring. Anyway, Kate was about to tell us about a creepy camping story" Abby said

"Right, yeah. Um, ok…" Kate spluttered

"Today, Kate" Tony said

"Ok, not much of a camping story. But, we went on a trip with the rest of a convoy through the outback. When our car went to go through a river crossing, we got bogged and water started filling the car. The water got up pretty high, we almost lost the car, it was fairly close to touching that chip thing which makes the car work. Anyway, we eventually got towed out, car was a wreck though" Kate said

"Chip thing?" Ducky asked

"Yeah, in a lot of cars nowadays, especially in four-wheel drives, there's a computer chip of sorts, controls all of the electrics. If it gets wet, the car is useless." Abby replied

"I see" Ducky replied. "That sort of reminds me of one of my experiences camping. Some friends of ours came camping with us, we were going to rent a room in a motel, but they decided to bring along their caravan which they had only just bought. We were going down a hill when we saw their caravan overtake us; it seems they hadn't hooked it up properly. The caravan was in one piece at the bottom though"

They all chuckled a bit, then Abby turned to Gibbs, "Gibbs, it's your turn"

"Mmmm?" Gibbs asked in response

There was another flash of lightening which showed Gibbs lying down with his arm across his eyes.

"Jethro?" Ducky asked

"I think he's sleeping Ducky. It's probably a good thing. He's been a grump all day, it might have something to do with the lack of coffee" Tony said

"Undoubtedly, Anthony. Throughout the time I have known Jethro, he has never been without his coffee, except for when he was in hospital" Ducky replied

"Isn't that a bit unhealthy Duck-man?" Abby asked

"A bit. But he doesn't see it as a problem and it doesn't interfere with his work. Everyone needs a healthy addiction, Abigail, Jethro's is coffee" Ducky said

"So I don't need to give up caff-Pow? Cos I really like them" Abby asked

"Speaking of healthy addictions, what's the time?" Tony asked

"1830" McGee replied

"Righto, kiddies. I'm outta here" Tony said, heading off

"Where are you going Tony?" Kate asked

"Clubbing. Wanna join me?" Tony asked, "The power's out, we're not going to get any work done. May as well leave"

"He has a point Caitlin. Go home and get some rest." Ducky said. He turned back to Gibbs' sleeping form, "Jethro?" he lightly shook Gibbs' arm. Gibbs sat bolt upright

"What happened?" he asked

"You fell asleep. Anthony's gone home and I have advised Caitlin and Timothy to do the same, you should join them. There is nothing you can do whilst the power is out" Ducky responded

"Right" Gibbs said, rubbing his face and getting up slowly. He stumbled backwards slightly, but Ducky caught him

"How are you feeling Jethro? You seem a bit off balance. Dizzy?" Ducky asked concerned, as he righted Gibbs' balance and helped him to sit on the side of a desk

"No" Gibbs replied

"Jethro!" Ducky said, knowing he was lying

Gibbs sighed, "A bit"

"You really shouldn't drive home like this. Do you want me to call a cab or can somebody pick you up?" Ducky asked

"I'll be fine. I can drive" Gibbs said, getting up

"Don't be stupid Gibbs, I'll drive you home" Kate said, after she had got her things

"Kate, Ducky, I am fine. I am driving home" Gibbs stated, walking to his desk. He grabbed his coat and absently looked for his keys in the pockets to find them empty. "Where are my keys?"

"Right here" Kate replied, holding them up. Another flash of lightening lit up the office, to show her clearly.

"Kate, give me my keys" Gibbs said

"No"

"I'm not an invalid Kate"

"Never said you were. I'm just worried about your safety. I'm driving you home whether you like it or not, now deal with it" Kate said, walking off

Ducky, McGee and Abby exchanged glances. They watched as Gibbs walked off after her, grumbling under his breath.

* * *

That's it for chapter 7... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	8. Chapter 8

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews I'm happy you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And yay! That exams have finished!

Again a huge thank you to Kate for her great work and inspiration!

* * *

The ride back to Gibbs' place was silent and uneventful. Gibbs was just falling asleep again when they arrived at his house.

"Thanks, Kate." Gibbs said, getting out of the car, "Do you want to come inside, have a drink or something?" Gibbs asked

"No, thanks, I'm right. My auntie decided to invite herself over for dinner." Kate replied, also getting out of the car, "Do you need help getting to your door?" she asked as she watched him sway a bit. But without waiting for his reply, she went over to his side of the car and went under his arm. She put her arm around his waist and his arm over her shoulder. They walked together up to his door, where he patted down his pockets, then looked at her.

"You still have my keys, Kate" he said

"Oh, right" Kate replied, removing the keys and unlocking the door.

They moved inside and headed towards the couch, where the both sat down, with their arms still around each other. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, before Kate's cell rang.

"Todd" She answered, "Abby?...Yeah…um, Abs, can I call you back later?" Kate flipped the phone shut and looked up at Gibbs

"The power come back on?" Gibbs asked

"She didn't say. She asked if you had gotten home safely" Kate replied

"And?" Gibbs asked

"What?"

"What else did she ask?"

"If I was looking after you." Kate replied "Anyway, I should probably head off. I'll see you tomorrow"

"Okay, take care Katie" Gibbs said

Kate got up from the couch and left. Gibbs watched from the window as he saw Kate get in her car and drive off. He smiled to himself and made his way to his basement.

* * *

He stopped sanding as another wave of nausea hit him. He looked down at his hands which were still uncontrollably shaking. This was unbelievable, he thought to himself, it was just coffee. He couldn't believe how the lack of caffeine was affecting his body; he had always been in control of it. He remembered telling his team how he'd never had allergies, never had a cold and never had the flu. It was true, he'd never been sick, he kept himself fit and ate the right foods; well, most of the time anyway. But this… He took deep breaths as he could feel bile in his throat, which eventually went back down. He looked at his boat and wiped the layer of sweat off his forehead. He sighed and put his tools away, there was no way he would continue working like this. He went upstairs and turned the light off, heading for his bedroom, he'd just have to sleep this one off. As he reached his bedroom, he felt the bile rise again. Starting to take deep breaths, Gibbs hurried to his bathroom and promptly threw up. He stayed hunched over the toilet as his stomach rejected whatever else was in there. After what seemed like hours, it was over. He sat back on the floor and leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths. Grabbing some toilet paper, he dabbed at his eyes, where tears had formed, but he would never allow them to fall. He wiped his mouth and closed his eyes. He felt like a naive teenager who'd drank too much, too fast. Slowly, he got to his feet, closing his eyes as he saw black dots fill his vision. When he opened his eyes, the dots were gone; he flushed the toilet and dragged his feet as he got back to his room. He took off his clothes and collapsed into his bed, immediately falling into a fitful sleep.

* * *

McGee looked up as he heard the elevator ding, he saw Kate and Tony walk off together animatedly chatting about something. He looked back at his computer only to have it freeze again.

"And then this tall hot blonde chick came in and started talking to Ben, but he could barely stand up straight and fell forward into her…" Tony was saying

"Tony, I don't wanna know what you did last night or what happened" Kate said, putting her bag down and turning her computer on

"Hmmph," Tony sighed, then looked at McGee, "Hey Probie! Do you wanna hear about what happened, it was great. After we left that nightclub, we moved onto…" Tony started again

"No Tony, I don't want to hear it" McGee answered

"Hey McGee, where's Gibbs?" Kate asked

"Dunno, hasn't shown up yet. Um, the system's still slow from last night, I'm gonna see if Abby and I can get it running again" McGee said, getting up and going to the elevator

Tony went to his desk and turned on his computer. "So, Kate, what did you get up to after you left here?" he asked as he sat down on his chair

"I went home Tony. And had to endure the most boring four hours of my life" Kate replied

"Really? Told you you shoulda joined me" Tony said suggestively

"I wouldn't go clubbing with you in a pink fit Tony." Kate replied

"Ow, that hurts Kate" Tony replied. "Say, why were you so bored? You have no reports to finish or anything"

"My auntie came over and gave me a detailed account of why I should be married, then tried to set me up with some guy she knew. Then she went on to trying to get me to quit my job here and get a 'real' job" Kate replied

"But you're not going to quit are you?" Tony asked, a bit concerned. From a look from Kate, he knew he didn't need to worry, "Well she was right about one thing, you do need a man in your life"

"Tony!" Kate said

"What? It's my job to see that you hook up with some nice, young guy who makes you happy." Tony replied

"Yeah, and to annoy me. My personal life is exactly that, Tony, personal. I don't go telling everybody I know about it" Kate responded

"It's part of my charm, Kate" Tony said, then returned his attention back to his computer, "You know, McGeek was right, these computers are screwed. Say, did we get Ducky's autopsy thing?"

"I don't think so. We all left early. Let's go see Ducky now" Kate said, getting up

* * *

"Ah, Caitlin, Anthony, nice of you both to see me. I gather you both also want to know how our young marine died" Ducky announced

"Hey, Ducky" Kate greeted him

"Hey, Duck! What do you mean 'also'?" Tony asked

"Jethro came in yesterday." Ducky replied, walking to the table, "Well, our Lt was brutally bashed before he died, with a blunt, hard instrument, most likely a baseball bat. The cause of death seems to be this cut" Ducky pointed to a gash on the dead marine's neck "which severed some fundamental arties. The killer let him bleed out before beating him again. Then he was put in a large freezer for four days." Ducky stepped back and looked at the body, "Yes, it reminds me of one of my first cases at NCIS. A petty officer was beaten until he was unconscious and then dragged into a meat freezer. The local PD found the young man three months later when he turned up in an abandoned warehouse. It turns out that…"  
"Ducky!" Tony and Kate simultaneously exclaimed

"Oh, right, yes. So how is young Jethro? He didn't look good yesterday" Ducky asked, frowning

"We don't know, he hasn't turned up yet" Tony replied

"If he's not in the bullpen when we get back up there, I'm going to phone him" Kate said

"Ok." Ducky responded, "Kate. Don't let him come into work; today will be his worst day. And he may need somebody to be with him"

"Right" Kate said

"Well, we don't have much happening today, except for those interrogations in an hour, probie and I can handle them." Tony said, thinking aloud

"What are you suggesting Tony?" Kate asked

"Well, Ducky needs to be at that conference later and probably has other work to do. And you and Gibbs are kinda…" Tony said

"Kinda, what? Tony" Kate asked

"Caitlin, he will listen to you" Ducky said simply

They were interrupted from discussing the matter further when Ducky's phone rang.

"Hello?" Ducky answered. Tony and Kate listened intently, they could hear the person on the other end.

"Duck, it's Gibbs" Gibbs said. Tony and Kate exchanged a glance

"Jethro, how are you?"

"I'll live. Look, I'm running late, I'll be in the office in an hour"

"No you won't. You sound terrible, you need rest"

"Ducky, I'm fine. See you in an hour" Gibbs said as he hung up

Ducky replaced the phone and looked at the two agents. Kate thought for a moment, then slowly smiled

"You think this is funny Kate? In less than an hour, we are going to have a very grumpy Gibbs enter the office" Tony said

"No, we're not. He doesn't have his car" Kate said, her smile widening as she looked at Ducky, "I dropped him home last night"

* * *

That's it for chapter 8... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	9. Chapter 9

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Again a huge thank you to Kate for her fantastic ideas and inspiration!

* * *

Gibbs dropped the phone and stumbled back to his room. He didn't really feel like going into work today, he knew Ducky was right. He needed rest, but he'd never admit it if anybody asked. Heading to the shower, he started thinking of his case, he was sure Lt Patterson was guilty; it was written all over his files. Gibbs turned on the water and let it run over his body. He started thinking of Kate and thought of her conversation with Abby before she left. He smiled, knowing that they had spoken about more than Kate had said. He leaned his head back under the shower head, closing his eyes and letting his hair get wet. Gibbs smiled as he recalled when they had been pushed together on that submarine. The smell of her hair, the touch of her body. Kate had stayed on top of him longer than she needed to, but he hadn't minded. Absently, he turned the hot water up, steam coming from the shower. Then he recalled their time together on Air Force One, there had been something there, it had made him offer her a job at NCIS. Since then, it had grown, neither of them had taken much notice of it…until now. Gibbs opened his eyes and found the black dots were back. He felt dizzy and light-headed. Damn this stupid bet with DiNozzo, but he was going to get through it, he was going to win this goddamn bet. Gibbs turned off the hot-water and got out of the shower. He grabbed his towel and headed towards his bedroom. When the room began spinning, Gibbs stopped and put his hand on the wall to steady himself. Now the room was spinning out of control. Gibbs silently cursed as the darkness obscured his vision once again and felt himself hit the ground.

* * *

Kate knocked on Gibbs' door. She had pulled the short straw and had gone to keep Gibbs company. Well, pulling the short straw wasn't entirely the truth, Tony and Ducky had coerced her to go. Not that she minded at all, she just put up the fight so that it didn't seem like she jumped at the idea to spend more time with her boss. She knocked again on his door and again there was no reply. She wondered if he'd taken a cab to work and they'd missed each other, she looked at the time. Nah, it had only been forty minutes after he'd called. She frowned, it was possible. She got out her cell and rang the office, Tony answered on the third tone.

"DiNozzo" He said

"Tony, Kate. Is Gibbs there?" She asked

"Uh, no. He's supposed to be with you, that's why you went to his place" Tony answered

"Yeah, I know Tony. He's not answering his door" she said

"Well break in, he couldn't have left" Tony responded

"I can't break in DiNozzo, this is Gibbs. He'd kill me. Besides, his door's locked," Kate said, turning the handle of the door, which opened "Or not. I'll call you later" Kate flipped her phone closed and walked inside.

She looked around, "Gibbs!" she called, no answer

Strange, she thought. If he was here, she was sure he would say something. She walked down into his basement and looked at his boat. Well, at least she could now say she'd been in his basement and seen his boat. She smiled to herself and took a few more steps down the stairs, but stopped when she heard a noise. The noise came from upstairs, it had kind of sounded like a weak cough. She frowned and went back up the stairs and decided to see his bedroom. As she walked to Gibbs' bedroom, she noticed the bathroom door was open. Then she saw his body, he was laying half-way between his bathroom and his bedroom. "Gibbs!" she called, running over. He didn't answer; she swore and checked his pulse, which was a bit fast. "Dammit Gibbs!" she cursed

"Hey" she heard him crackle. Gibbs slowly opened his eyes, then closed them again as the light hit them.

"Hey, yourself. You had us all worried" Kate replied

"By that, do you mean, everybody, or you?" Gibbs asked, his voice slightly above a whisper

"By that, I mean everybody and me" Kate replied

"I'm fine" Gibbs whispered, slightly opening his eyes

"You trying to convince me, or yourself?" Kate asked, "We should get you to bed" she said after noticing that he was only wearing a towel

"Mmmm" he acknowledged, closing his eyes again

"Gibbs. Wake up" Kate told him, tugging at his arm

Gibbs sighed and looked at Kate. Kate helped Gibbs get to his feet and supported him as they walked slowly to his bedroom. "You here to take me to work?" he asked as he sat on the bed

"You're not going to work, Gibbs" Kate answered, pulling the covers over him as he lay down

"That's what you think, Katie" Gibbs replied, before falling asleep

Kate smiled and watched him close his eyes. She listened as his breathing became regular and knew he'd fallen asleep. Kate walked out of his room as phoned Ducky

"Hi Ducky, its Kate" she said into her cell

"Ah, Caitlin, how is young Jethro?"

"Sleeping. I found him passed out in the hallway between his bedroom and the bathroom. He woke up and I got him into bed" Kate smiled as she thought of the two levels that comment could be taken

"Good work Caitlin. How does he look?"

"Not good. His face was covered in sweat, he was pale and shivering."

"I see. You know, this reminds me of a case we had about three years ago, we found a corporal who was…"

"Ducky!" Kate said, exasperated

"Ah, sorry Caitlin. You take good care of Jethro now, ok?"

"Ok, thanks Duck"

Kate closed the phone and looked through the door at her boss. He still didn't look good. She decided to get a cup of coffee and get the breakfast that she'd forgotten to have this morning, then come back and see how he was doing.

* * *

Tony walked into the interrogation room and put the large folders down. He sat down in the chair with a small huff and began sorting out the folders. He had just come from interrogation with Lt Patterson, the man had seemed pissed. The Lt had told Tony that he had proposed to Srg Dowling two months ago and was furious when Tony said she'd been seeing another man at the time. Tony had decided to give the man time to cool down before interviewing him again. He inwardly sighed and finally looked up at Srg Dowling as if noticing her for the first time.

"So, how long did you and Lt Mitchell date for?" he asked

"Just over eight months. We've been through this" Srg Dowling replied, exasperated already. Tony had kept her waiting for an hour and a half

"Yes, but we decided we wanted to go through it again, just to spite you" Tony said, giving a charming smile. "Now, you told Special Agents Gibbs and Todd that this wasn't a serious relationship?"

"That's correct" she replied

"So, what do you consider as a serious relationship Sergeant?" he asked. When she didn't answer, Tony stood up and walked to the mirror "You're relationship with Lt Patterson, do you consider that serious? How long have you two been dating?"

"14 months. This is none of your business" she replied

"I'm making it my business!" Tony said, facing her giving a glare that would have made Gibbs proud. "You didn't answer my question"

"Yes, we are in a serious relationship, I love James" she answered

"So why were you sleeping with Lt Mitchell?"

"I wasn't"

"We have evidence suggesting you were"

"You mean his 'diaries'? He was writing a book"

"You knew about that?" Tony asked, slightly raising his eyebrow

"Yes, he based one of the characters on me. That's why we met so often. We weren't sleeping together, we weren't dating. Sure, he was hot and we did have a fling in Norfolk, but he doesn't like women anymore"

Tony crossed his arms, frowning "Lt Mitchell was gay?"

"Yes, he was even seeing somebody on the ship. Some guy called Tony" she said

Tony went back to the table and picked up the folders. He walked out of interrogation and into observation to find McGee laughing hard.

Tony slapped him over the back of his head and said, "McGeek! I want you to pull the file of everybody on that ship named Anthony!" and stormed out, saying something about needing coffee

* * *

That's it for chapter 9... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please! 


	10. Chapter 10

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Again a huge thank you to Kate for her brilliant ideas and inspiration!

* * *

Kate turned the television off, midday television was worse than she remembered it. She walked into the kitchen and washed up the dishes from her breakfast. She heard a noise coming from Gibbs' bedroom and went to investigate. After walking into his bedroom and finding nothing, Kate stopped at the doorway, confused until she heard a noise from the bathroom. She waited for a while, then went in to find Gibbs huddled over the toilet, he didn't look good. He looked up at her at attempted a smile, but failed miserably. He wiped his mouth with some toilet paper and tried to get up, but stumbled into the wall. Kate watched Gibbs blink a few times before pushing himself off the wall, Kate helped him back to his bedroom.

"I think, maybe it was a good idea, not to go into work today" Gibbs said with an effort, sitting on his bed

"Yeah, great deducing skills there, you should be a detective" Kate replied, tucking him in

"Mmm." He agreed "Kate?"

"Yeah"

"Thanks" With that, Gibbs fell asleep again

* * *

Kate put the movie back into the box, wasn't bad, Fight Club; she figured Tony had bought it for Gibbs. She smiled as she remembered Tony speaking of the movie for a few days, telling Gibbs that he would hire it out for him. Kate found it surprising that Tony had actually done that though, but what she found more surprising was that Gibbs had a DVD player. She put the box on the coffee table and looked at the rest of the range of DVD's, nothing caught her attention. She sighed and went back to see how Gibbs was doing, he'd now been sleeping for four and a half hours, not including last night. Gibbs had pulled the covers back and was now sleeping on top of them, but had pulled his knees into his chest and looked cold, he must be running a fever. Kate walked in but stopped when she heard Gibbs talking in his sleep.

"No… don't…not her" he whispered, his voice getting louder. "No" his voice was softer now, he sounded close to tears, "I won't let you" his breathing became deeper; "No…I love her". Kate's heart stopped when she heard this, she didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she needed to know who her boss had fallen in love with

"No!...KATE!" Gibbs yelled sitting bolt up right. He stared around the room, coming back to reality and tried to calm his breathing down, and then he noticed Kate.

"Kate," he said. Kate saw tears pooling in his eyes

"Shhh," Kate came over and hugged his head in her arms, rocking him back and forth

"I thought…somebody tried to…," he tried to explain

"It was just a bad dream," Kate told him

"Sorry, I…" Gibbs pulled himself out of her embrace and took a deep breath. Kate sat on the edge of his bed and looked at him.

"It's ok, you don't need to explain" she told him, "You're just going through withdrawals"

"Um," he started and for a while it looked to Kate like he was about to say it might be more, but instead he said, "Yeah, you might be right"

Kate sighed, "You should rest"

"I'm tired of resting" he said, but lay back down anyway and closed his eyes, "I think I've slept enough for the next ten years. I'm not even" he stopped to yawn "tired anymore"

Kate watched him fall asleep again and tucked him in once more.

Once out of the room, Kate called Ducky and filled him in.

"A fever. Yes, that's not too good. Anything else?" Ducky asked

"Yeah, he had a nightmare" Kate replied

"Really? What about? You do know that it was Fraud who said that during our dreams, our subconscious self is…" Ducky started

"Ducky," Kate said, exasperated as she rubbed her hand over her face, "No, I don't know what about"

"Caitlin, I do know that Jethro speaks whilst dreaming. Especially when he has a bad dream. This is half of the reason why one of his wives left him; I'm not sure which one"

"Ducky, he didn't say"

"So, what is bothering you darling?"

"Nothing, he just" Kate said, "I've just never seen him like this before"

"Yes, not many of us have. He puts up a fairly good show of making it seem like nothing gets to him or affects him. But underneath it all, he is still only human like the rest of us"

"I know Ducky, I know. It's just hard to see him like this"

"I understand. And how are you Caitlin?"

"I'm not the one going through withdrawals. But watching Gibbs, I don't think I ever want to be"

"I see. Well, I have to bid you farewell, my darling, I have that pointless conference to go to. If you need somebody to talk to, you know where to find me"

"Thanks Duck" Kate said and closed the phone.

Kate went to the kitchen and got a bucket of cold water and a flannel, then went back to Gibbs' room. She pulled up a chair by his bedside and carefully wiped his forehead with the flannel, expecting him to suddenly move and hurt her in some way. She had been told on many occasions not to wake a sleeping marine, Ducky had even related a story about a marine who had killed his wife because, well, now that Kate thought about it, she had no idea, she must have tuned Ducky out. Kate returned her attention to her boss, there was no sudden movements. She dipped the flannel into the water again and wiped his face; he turned his face into the cloth and sighed contentedly. Kate smiled; she returned the flannel to the bucket and held his hand.

* * *

Kate woke to hear Gibbs' mumbling. She sat up, confused, she didn't remember dozing off. She looked at the time, 1825, still early, but kind of late too. She looked back at Gibbs, he was lying on the top of the covers again, sweat was pouring down his face. Kate picked up the flannel and wiped his forehead. She didn't think that caffeine, or lack there of, would do this. She sighed and put the flannel back into the bucket.

"Hey" she heard a muffled whisper come from the bead

"Hi," Kate replied, running her hand through his hair

"Mmm, that felt good" he whispered

Kate rested her hand on his chin and looked into his eyes. His hand came up to join hers and he smiled.

Kate smiled back, "How're you feeling, Tiger?". Kate began to blush as she realised what she had called him, she hadn't meant to say that, it had just popped out.

Gibbs quietly laughed when he saw her face, but his laugh soon turned into a cough. Kate helped him sit up to help him get oxygen into his body. Gibbs groaned as he lay back down on his pillow.

"You know, in this light, your hair kinda looks red" he said quietly

Kate blushed a bit deeper; wishing the light in the room wouldn't highlight her rosy cheeks. "Really?" she asked him

"Yeah, makes you look really cute" he said. When he saw her reaction he frowned, "Did I say that last part aloud?". Kate nodded; Gibbs looked into her eyes "Right, well, I don't take it back"

For a while, they stayed in an awkward silence, looking into each others eyes. "Ah, Gibbs, are you hungry? It's about dinner time and my tummy's rumbling" Kate said and as if in response to being called, her tummy started to talk.

Gibbs laughed, "Yeah, I think I feel up to food again. What's cooking?"

Now Kate laughed, "Oh no, you don't want any of my cooking, that have you pushing up daisies for sure."

Gibbs sat up and looked at Kate with a serious expression on his face, "You can't cook?"

"No. Well, do two-minute dinners count? Like hard boiled eggs, beans on toast, scrambled eggs…" Kate asked

Gibbs shook his head, "I'm gonna have to teach you how to cook, Katie"

"You can cook?" Kate asked

"Yeah, one of my ex-wives taught me" he replied, "So back to the matter at hand, what are we getting for dinner?"

"Chinese? No, we had that the other night. Pizza?" she asked

"Only if you're paying" Gibbs replied, grinning

After ordering the pizza, Kate went back into Gibbs' room and sat on the bed. "So, can I get you anything?"  
"Yeah, coffee" Gibbs moaned, tossing back the covers, "Ok, I can't stay in bed any longer. Might work on the boat for a while…"

Kate watched as he tried to stand up, but sat down when he got dizzy. She wordlessly offered him a hand, which he accepted and supported him into the lounge room

"..Or the couch sounds good" Gibbs said, as if finishing his sentence.

Kate helped him sit on the couch, then went back to his room and got his quilt cover, "Can't have you getting a cold" she explained, when she saw his look

"Thanks mum" Gibbs replied, with a small smile

Kate smiled back, then sat on the couch next to him, turning on the television. She flicked through the channels and eventually stopped on some cop show, it was one of those Law & Order or CSI shows or something, Kate had lost track of them all.

"Ah, they wouldn't know real work if it bit them in their collective ass" Gibbs commented, "wouldn't know where to start if they had a real case"

"Gibbs, it's a TV show, fiction, not real. It's meant to entertain people" Kate responded

"This is meant to be entertaining?" he asked, looking genuinely surprised

Kate rolled her eyes but kept the TV on the same channel. They watched as the detectives tried to piece together the clues and find out who their perpetrator was. Gibbs commented throughout the episode, especially when they did something wrong or forgot about something.

"Gibbs, it's a show"

"Yeah, it's a show, but it's supposed to be based how investigations are run"

"They're allowed to make mistakes"

Gibbs looked at Kate and cocked his head, "You don't know who did it yet, do you?"

Kate looked back at him "What, the murderer?" Gibbs nodded, "And you do?" Gibbs nodded again with a grin on his face, "I don't believe you. Who do you think did it?"

"I know who did it. Come on, you're the profiler."

"Just tell me"

"The disabled old man" Gibbs replied, still smiling

"The guy with a cane? Who can barely walk? Graham Tibbs? Nah, not possible"

"Why? Because he has a cane? It's an act"

"The whole show is an act. How do you know?" Kate asked

Gibbs was saved from explaining by the ring of the doorbell. Kate glared at Gibbs, then got up and answered the door. Kate paid the delivery man, detoured to the kitchen to pick up two glasses then came back to the couch. She poured the glasses full of coke then picked up a pizza.

They watched the rest of the show. This time, Gibbs remained silent, content to eat his pizza and watch Kate try to figure out if he was correct. He laughed at her expression when she realized he was right and that the old man was the murderer. She looked over at him questioningly, to which he replied by shrugging his shoulders, then said that he went with his gut and that they don't show that on TV shows.

When the show had finished rolling the credits, Kate looked at Gibbs, "So, want some dessert?"

"Nah, think I'll pass, I'm not really hungry"

"Ok" she replied. Kate picked up the box of pizza, frowning when she looked inside, "How many pieces did you eat?"

"Two" he said distractedly, as he watched a commercial about star-bucks

"Why?"

"Wasn't hungry" he replied, then looked up at her as the commercial finished, "What?"  
"Gibbs, you need to eat"

"Yeah, I wasn't hungry" he reiterated, looking into her eyes. She could see that he didn't want her to push the matter, so decided to leave it alone for a while.

Kate packed up the stuff from their dinner and was about to sit down again when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and let out a sigh.

She opened the phone "Yes, Shane?"

Gibbs looked up at her and raised his eyebrows. He tried to listen in on the conversation but Kate walked into another room. When she walked back into the room, she let out a sigh and told Gibbs that Shane was really apologetic and that she was going to give him another chance.

"And you forgave him? You're giving him another chance after what he did to you?" Gibbs asked

"He didn't do anything to me, Gibbs" Kate replied

"He stood you up, then he lied to you about why he didn't come. Why are you doing this to yourself? He doesn't like you"

"Oh, well thanks for clarifying. That makes me feel so much better"

Gibbs rubbed his hand through his hair, "That, that's not what I meant. You don't like him either", Gibbs sighed and looked up at the ceiling, "He doesn't deserve you, Kate. You deserve somebody who will be there for you every time you call, somebody who will never lie to you, somebody trustworthy. You deserve somebody who can make you happy, make you laugh and," Gibbs paused, looking back at Kate, "and God help anybody if they hurt you"

* * *

That's it for chapter 10... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please! 


	11. Chapter 11

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Again a humongous thank you to Kate for her brilliant work and inspiration!

* * *

Tony was greeted by loud music as he walked into Abby's lab. He turned her music down and gave her a cup of caff-Pow!

"Abs, whatcha got for me?" he asked

"Hey Tony, well, McGee and I properly rebooted the system again this morning and now it's running as smoothly as…"

"Abs!" Tony said, looking slightly irritated

Abby rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, "Right. I got the tox-screen back from the Lt. His blood-alcohol reading was .08, but other than that, he was clean"

"Yeah, that matches Petty Officer Colmer's story that he was in the bar last time anybody saw him" Tony said, "What else?"

"Not a lot, whoever did this knew what they were doing. They left almost no fibers or anything…"

"Almost, no fibers…So you got something?" Tony asked

"Kinda. I picked up a partial print on Lt Mitchell's dog-tag, but when I ran it through the database, I got nothing"

"Nothing?" Tony asked, surprised

"Well, not nothing, I got something, but it was nothing. The partial matched at least 350 officers, of those, 14 are officers on the ship."

"How can a single print match so many people?" Tony asked

"It's only a small portion of the print, usually we get people's prints by taking various points, the more points you measure from, the more precise it is. The print that I have has a small number of points, hence a larger number of people." Abby explained, then took a long sip of her caff-Pow, "Ok, but that's not the interesting part. I also found somebody else's DNA in there. Turns out the system didn't pick up on the sample before because it was running slow, or whatever, but one of the blood stains found in the cabin belonged to somebody else"

"Who?" Tony asked, coming around to look at the monitor

"Don't know, it's still scanning"

"Abs, it's been scanning for 3 days"

"Actually, Tony, it's been scanning for 3 hours. It was reset this morning, and before that, I hadn't run the sample yet" Abby replied, then more to herself than anybody else said "Not that it would have made much difference, it was running so slow before, you could barely play a game of minesweeper, let alone run a test."

Tony walked out of the lab and called over his shoulder, "Ring me when you get something"

* * *

Tony walked into the bullpen to find that McGee had disappeared. Tony frowned and leaned his head on the side, seeing a pair of feet under McGee's desk.

Tony smiled, then loudly said, "Probie! On your feet!"

He heard a thud as McGee's head hit the underside of his desk and watched as McGee emerged, rubbing his head and glared at Tony. "Very funny, Tony" he grumbled

"I thought it was. You can play hide and seek in your own time, I suggest you don't do it in company time. Now, what have you got for me?"

"I was looking for my bus ticket, thought I may have dropped it" McGee explained, "Anyway, there's 20 sea-men with the first name 'Anthony'" he said, then put a picture on the plasma, "Only 6 of them had contact with our marine, 3 and a half of them are married…"

"Half?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow

"Yeah, one's engaged. Anyway, this," he gestured to the screen, "is Petty Officer Anthony Thompson. He's only been on-board for the last six months, Lt Mitchell was his supervisor. His record is clean, seems like a good bloke…"

"Yeah, that's what people say about their neighbour who is actually a murderer" Tony said

McGee rolled his eyes, then continued, "His civilian record is almost as spotless, apart from an incident 3 years ago," McGee changed the picture on the screen, to one which showed a riot, "Before he joined the corps, he was heavily involved in rallying for rights for homosexuals. He was arrested in this rally-turned-riot, no charges were laid though"

"Why not?" Tony asked

"Because the arresting officer was his dad. In the report, he said that there was some kind of extenuating circumstances or something. The other officer is Lt Anthony Brown," McGee changed the picture again, "Look familiar?"

"Yeah, that's the guy who met us when we got off the chopper and showed us around" Tony replied

"Correct. He was a model for 2 years before joining the navy. He trained at Norfolk with Lt Mitchell and was posted onto the ship a few months after Mitchell. Nothing in his civilian record, apart from a few parking tickets and speeding fines. He was put on report 4 months after he was posted on the ship for starting a fight in the bar. Apparently Lt Patterson said something demeaning to Mitchell, Brown punched Patterson, knocking him out and putting him in hospital with a concussion. He would have done more damage if he hadn't been restrained."

* * *

Kate picked at her food and occasionally looked back up at Shane and tried to listen to what he was saying, but her mind was somewhere else. She thought back to what Gibbs had said before she left. She had left the house without saying anything further, he had made her speechless, she hadn't known what to say. What could you say to something like that? She thought of several responses to what he said, "Didn't take you for a religious man", that would've gone down well, and diffused some of the tension. She rolled her eyes as she thought it made sense that she could only think of a response an hour later, usually she was on a ball and was quick with a come-back. She could've asked where she would find a man like that… that could have been interesting.

"Kate?" Kate came back to the present when she heard Shane calling her name. Kate apologized and Shane continued his monologue

Kate picked up her glass of wine and downed the rest of it, then poured herself another glass. She continued picking at her food and let her thoughts run off again

* * *

Gibbs had a sip of his glass of Jack and continued sanding his boat. He felt his strength returning after he'd eaten something and decided to work on his boat to take his mind off what he'd said to Kate. He was glad he'd gotten that off his chest, but he hadn't expected it to happen like that, or Kate's response. Dammit! Why couldn't he have kept his mouth shut? It was gonna be weird working with Kate now. This is exactly why romance between agents never worked. Gibbs growled under his breath and pressed down harder on the wood. He had felt something for Kate back on Air Force One but knew it would never work; it never did, experience had taught him that, and taught him well. So why after all this time, did he say something now? Something that might give away his true feelings for her?

Gibbs finished the rest of his glass of Jack and poured himself another one. He picked up the sander and continued sanding. At this rate, he'd have the boat finished within the next two weeks.

* * *

That's it for chapter 10... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please! 


	12. Chapter 12

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Again a humongous thank you to Kate for her inspiration and great work!

* * *

Kate looked at her watch and silently swore, she was an hour late. She looked back at the doors as they opened and walked into the bullpen to find Tony on the phone and McGee glued to the screen of his computer. Tony acknowledged her with a smile and wrote something on his notepad. Kate nodded in return, then sat down.

"Morning McGee" she said

"Kate" he responded

"Seen Gibbs?" she asked

"Nah hasn't come in yet. Maybe he went to see Ducky" McGee suggested, "We'll brief you both when he gets in, we found out a few things that you two might find interesting"

"Ok, well, I'm going to see Ducky" she said, going to the elevator

Kate walked into autopsy and saw Ducky behind a pile of paperwork.

"That from the useless boring conference that you had to go to?" she asked

"Ah, Morning Caitlin. Yes indeed. I'm not sure what they want me to do with all these notes, I think I might give them to Mr. Palmer, he may find them of use" Ducky replied

"Find what of use, Doctor?" Jimmy asked, walking in

"This paperwork, Mr. Palmer, it's of no use to me, but you may find it interesting. There's a few cases from early work last century and several from when we faced the bubonic plague…" Ducky stopped and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, "Yes, that reminds me of a story one of my somewhat older collegues told me about. A young man turned up in India…"

"Ducky!" Kate interrupted, exasperated, "Have you seen Jethro?…I mean, uh, Gibbs?"

Ducky smiled at the slip-up, "No, my darling, I haven't seen him since I sent him home. How was he yesterday?"  
Kate blushed slightly, "He was good, better, he had something to eat for dinner, it wasn't a lot, but it was something. I think I might ring him"

"That might be a good idea. Anthony and Timothy have already tried a few times today but got no answer, you may have better luck"

Kate rang his cell. It rang and rang and rang. He finally picked up on her third call.

"Gibbs?" he answered

"Where have you been? We tried contacting you," Kate didn't need to say the implicit, _I was worried about you_

"Yeah, somebody turned off the ringer thing"

"Oh," Kate said, "Are you okay? You sound a bit breathless?"

"Yeah, I'm walking, have been for the last hour"

Kate frowned. Then heard the elevator ding and saw Tony and McGee come out

"Why and where are you walking?" she asked

"My car is still at work, Kate."

"So catch a cab"

"I don't trust their driving"

"Then catch a bus"

"Don't trust their driving either"

"Why not?"

"Kate, I'm walking. I'll be there later" Gibbs said and hung up

Kate turned to Ducky and raised her eyebrows

"He's walking?" Ducky asked. Kate nodded and frowned.

"Why doesn't he catch a taxi, or public transport?" McGee asked

"Apparently doesn't trust their driving" Kate answered

Tony sniggered. Ducky looked at them and decided to explain, "Five years ago, before you started working here, Tony, Gibbs was working a case. The killer kept slipping through their fingers, and as you can imagine, Gibbs became slightly frustrated. One day, they had him in their sight and chased him down the street. They crossed an intersection, but a taxi ran a red light and crashed into Gibbs' partner. She didn't die instantly, it took three days, he never left her bedside. They had been seeing each other for a few months before the accident and thought they had something. Apparently the driver had been drinking and wasn't paying attention to the road. This is when he made up rule 12, which I'm sure you are aware of, he also made up rule 13, which you probably haven't heard of; 'never trust taxi drivers'"

The silence in the room was deafening. Ducky sighed.

"Wow" McGee said, to nobody in particular

"So, what about buses?" Tony asked, adding, "I mean, apart from the obvious"

Kate walked out saying that she would pick him up. And heard Ducky's voice come through, "In psychology, there is a concept known as stimulus generalization where a stimulus similar to the original one, buses and taxis, respectively, elicits the same reaction as the original stimulus. This principle was first discovered by …"

Kate got into the elevator and Ducky's voice was droned out.

* * *

Kate drove along the street she knew Gibbs would take and eventually found him. She pulled up beside him and wound down the window

"You've come further than I anticipated." She told him

"I'm a marine, Kate. I can walk fast" he replied and continued walking

"You gonna get in?"

"Nope. I'm enjoying the walk"

Kate silently swore, stopped the car and turned it off. She grabbed the keys, got out and ran to catch up to him.

"What are you doing?" Gibbs asked her when she caught up

"What do you think?"

"Don't you have work to do?" he snapped, then added "People to see?"

Kate stopped walking and watched his back as he continued walking. When he realised she wasn't beside him anymore, he stopped and turned around.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I've stopped seeing Shane" Kate told him, then walked back to her car

"It's my business when it affects your work" he called after her

Kate turned around and looked into his eyes and coolly replied, "He's not affecting my work. You are"

Before Gibbs could reply, his phone rang.

"Gibbs!" he barked into it. He listened for a while, then snapped it closed, "We have another body"

* * *

Tony looked up as he heard the elevator ding and saw Kate and Gibbs walk out. Neither looked happy, something was up.

"Get your gear, we have another body" Gibbs said, grabbing something from his desk, "Be at the chopper, ready to go in 10" Gibbs walked back to the elevator and got in, shouting to them as the doors closed not to forget Ducky

Tony looked at Kate who was busy getting her gear, "Jeez Kate, what'd ya do to him?"

Kate glared at Tony and walked out of the bullpen, leaving Tony alone with McGee, who shrugged.

"Ducky will be there in 5. Do you think Gibbs wants me to come along?" McGee asked

"Well what do you think Probie?" Tony asked, thinking the answer was obvious

"Ok, I'll get my gear"

Tony and McGee arrived at the heli-pad first, followed by Ducky then Kate. They filed into the chopper and waited for Gibbs. Gibbs eventually turned up, carrying a cup from star bucks. He got into the chopper and closed the door.

"So I guess this means I won the bet" Tony said, smiling

"It's decaf, DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped

"It's still coffee" Tony replied, still smiling

"This does not count, DiNozzo. It is decaf! This is not coffee!" Gibbs said, saying each word matter-of-factly

"Technically he's right, Anthony. It is actually the caffeine that Gibbs is addicted to, not the coffee…" Ducky was silenced by a glare from Gibbs

"This is not coffee! And I do not have an addiction!"

"We both know that's not true Jethro, if it wasn't an addiction, you wouldn't be going through withdrawals" Ducky replied, leveling his gaze at the younger man

"I am not going through withdrawals!"

"He's in denial" Kate said, joining in the conversation

Gibbs sent Kate a look that sent daggers. He then said softly and slowly, in a voice everybody recognized as being very dangerous, "I do not have an addiction, I am not going through withdrawals and I am not in denial. Are we clear?"

The rest of the journey to the ship was passed in relative silence, which was only broken when Gibbs asked Tony and McGee to fill them in on what they had found out. Gibbs told them he wanted to interrogate the two officers named Anthony before they left the ship. Tony nodded in agreement, then sat back and tried to remain relatively unnoticed. The tension was thick enough to run a knife through. He watched as Kate and Gibbs, who sat as far apart as possible, at opposite ends of the chopper, took turns glaring at each other. Tony sighed and exchanged glances with Ducky.

* * *

That's it for chapter 12... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please! 


	13. Chapter 13

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Again a humongous thank you to Kate for her inspiration and fantastic work!

* * *

They got out of the chopper as soon as it landed and waited at the edge of the heli-pad for somebody to show them to the murder scene. Tony breathed a sigh of relief as he got out of the cramped conditions, glad to be away from Gibbs. A young man approached the group and introduced himself, he showed them to the crime-scene, then disappeared somewhere. Gibbs looked at the crime scene, it was almost identical to the last one, he turned to give orders to his team, but they had already taken the initiative and were doing it themselves.

Gibbs turned to where Ducky was crouched by the body, "Anything?"

"Gibbs, we just arrived" Ducky sighed, "Cause of death unknown at this stage, last time, COD was a cut to his throat, but it seems that this time, our murderer changed tactics. Changed his M.O as you might say. Time of death between two and three days. Can't tell you more…"

"Until you get him home." Gibbs finished his sentence. Ducky nodded, "So take him, and McGee"

McGee looked at Gibbs, "But we just got here"

"That a problem, Agent McGee?" Gibbs asked

"No boss. Don't you want me to take any evidence back to Abby though, so she can get started on analyzing it?" he asked

Gibbs growled and told Tony to hurry up with the bagging and tagging.

The rest of the trip to the ship was uneventful; the interrogations with both Lt Brown and PO Thompson revealing nothing. They spent the rest of the day interrogating various people who knew their marine, Srg Simpson. By the time they boarded the chopper again, Gibbs was almost impossible to work with, he'd been snapping at everything they had said and kept grumbling about nothing.

Tony looked across at Gibbs who was staring out the window, his expression unreadable, but the fact that he was majorlly pissed off was hard to miss.

"Got something to say, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, daring him to say yes

"No boss"

"Then stop staring at me"

Tony nodded, and looked at Kate. She had also been hard to work with all day, her temper almost matching Gibbs'. Tony closed his eyes and willed himself to drift off to sleep.

* * *

When they got off the chopper, McGee met them and said something, but it was lost in the noise of the chopper blades. Gibbs frowned at him, McGee tried to say it again, but the sound didn't carry, leaving Gibbs very frustrated. Gibbs yelled at McGee over the noise, his words loud, clear and unmistakable, McGee paled, then told them that Lt Brown's parents were in town for a few days and gave them the address.

"Good work. McGee, you're with me. You two," he turned back to Tony and Kate, "see if Abby found anything, likewise with Ducky"

McGee and Gibbs got into the sedan and drove to the address listed. They got out of the car and approached the house.

"Nice looking area, must have money" McGee commented

Gibbs glared at him, "Well, did you check that out?"

He didn't have a chance to reply as the door opened and an old lady walked out of the house.

Gibbs introduced themselves and was about to ask about their son, when the woman broke into tears. Gibbs blinked back the surprise in his face; he briefly glanced at McGee for help, momentarily lost, but the young agent looked as helpless as he felt. Gibbs straightened up and adopting his best marine tone asked her what was wrong.

The woman was leaning against the door-frame for support and looked up at Gibbs, "My son, you've come to tell me about my son." The woman broke down into hysterical sobs

Gibbs realised what she was talking about, and explained to her that they weren't here because her son had died; they just wanted to ask her a few questions.

The rest of the questioning went smoothly, once the woman had gotten over her embarrassment and cleaned herself up. They learnt that the Brown had never gotten on well with his father, joining the navy was the last straw, they hadn't heard from the man since. His mum had been supportive of the Lt, throughout the teasing when he was in college, to when he stood up to his father and joined the navy.

As they got back to the car, Gibbs handed McGee the keys, "You're driving"

McGee tried not to look surprised as he took the keys and headed to the driver's seat.

"You get anything else?" Gibbs asked, climbing into the passenger's seat

"No, I was hoping we'd getting something more from the officers on the ship."

Gibbs nodded and answered his phone as it began ringing. Gibbs closed his eyes as he received the information, listened for a while then closed the phone. "The other blood that Abby found in Dowling's cabin belonged to Brown. The crime-scene we cleared today was clean, our guy's getting smarter"

* * *

Tony looked at his watch then back at Gibbs, his tummy had been grumbling and doing little dances since that afternoon, it was now well passed diner time, and he was starting to feel light-headed. Tony sighed then looked at Kate.

"Got somewhere to be DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without looking up

"No, but my stomach does. Sometimes us mere mortals have to eat" Tony replied, somewhat shortly

Gibbs looked up at the tone Tony used, raising his eyebrows, "Fine, go, you're no use to me if you pass out"

Tony grabbed his stuff and left without so much as saying goodbye.

Kate watched him leave and sighed as she returned to her work

"Something wrong Kate?" Gibbs asked

"I just don't see why were going over these files. They aren't going to tell us anything. Ducky said the beating Simpson received was less severe than Mitchell's, indicating that it was probably an attempt to make it look like it was some random event and take the heat off whoever did it. This, is a pointless exercise" Kate replied, getting irritated by Gibbs' tone and attitude

Then Gibbs exploded at her, the content of what he said was lost on her as she listened to him yell. When he had finished ranting and raving, Kate silently got up, grabbing her gear and turning off her lamp, heading for the elevator.

Gibbs watched her go and rubbed his face, then ran after her, getting into the elevator just before the doors closed.

"Kate" he said softly, "Kate, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that". Kate didn't say anything, not even the quip about his rule about not apologizing. She continued staring at the wall, with her back to him.

"Kate, would you at least turn around?", when Kate did nothing, he flicked the switch for the emergency stop, shutting down the elevator. Kate turned around and looked at him.

"Kate, I…" he took a step forward, then another, invading her personal space, so that their bodies were almost touching. He could smell her perfume and feel the warmth of her body. He flicked back a stray piece of hair and put it behind her ear. He leaned in to her…

Kate watched as their lips got closer and closer, then, he pulled back. She knew he was having second thoughts and touched his arm. Gibbs sighed and turned the elevator back on, she heard him say, "I need coffee"

* * *

That's it for chapter 13... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please! 


	14. Chapter 14

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a gigantic thank you to Kate for her great inspiration and fantastic work!

* * *

Kate woke to the sound of her alarm going off and groaned. She sleepily slapped the clock until the noise turned off. Turning over, she stared at the ceiling and rubbed her face, she thought of calling in and saying she had caught a cold and couldn't come into work. Kate sighed and got up, heading for the shower.

When she turned up to work, she hoped Tony and McGee had already turned up. But when she walked into the bullpen, she only saw Gibbs working at his desk. He looked as if he had stayed all night, once again pulling an all-nighter. Kate turned on her computer and sat down without a work. She wouldn't be the one to break the silence.

Gibbs looked up when Kate had entered, then looked back at his work, but kept his attention on Kate as she began her work. He inwardly sighed, today was going to be awkward, this is why he made up rule 12.

The two worked in silence until Tony entered; they both looked up when he walked into the bullpen, glad for the interruption. Tony stalked to his desk and threw his bag by the filing cabinet, making a big band. Gibbs raised his eyebrow and took in Tony's appearance, it must have been raining, the young man was soaked through.

"Ok, I have another goddamn rule, one of my own; never trust bloody rental cars" Tony said, then added "or tow trucks"

"Car trouble, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked

"You have no idea…" Tony groaned, he looked at his clothes and shook his head, "Ah, this dry cleaning bill is gonna kill me" he picked up his bag and looked at Gibbs, "Ah, boss, can I hit the showers? I can't feel my toes"

Gibbs nodded and Tony walked off, leaving Kate and Gibbs in silence again

10 minutes later, the elevator dinged again and McGee walked out. Gibbs decided it was definitely raining, McGee's pants were soaked from the knees down. Gibbs cocked his head on the side, "You're late McGee" he told the younger man in an even voice

"Yeah, sorry boss. The bus was an hour late, then it broke down" McGee said as he turned on his computer, "We had to wait knee-deep in a puddle of water. The whole of Watson Street is flooded, drains are blocked." McGee sat down and took off his shoes which were filled with water, "Then another bus went passed, going the same way, so we caught that one. As we came to Welsh Avenue – two blocks from here – the brakes failed and locked up, the bus driver collided with the bus in-front of us. No damage, we wouldn't have been going faster than walking pace" he sighed and looked up as Tony entered. McGee looked back at Gibbs, whose expression had darkened somewhat

"I don't want you to catch buses anymore, Tim, you need to find alternative transport" Gibbs said

All three agents stopped what they were doing and stared at Gibbs, he never called McGee 'Tim'

"Like what? Take a taxi? I don't have enough money" McGee said when he eventually found his voice

"No, not a taxi! Definitely not a taxi" Gibbs replied, his eyes widening slightly as a chill ran up his spine

"But that leaves nothing else, I don't have a car" McGee stated

"So buy one. DiNozzo can help" Gibbs told him

"Me?" Tony asked, still stunned

"Yeah, you" Gibbs replied, exasperated, "You know something about cars don't you?" Tony nodded, "So help him find one"

"Why can't you?" Tony asked carefully

Gibbs glared at him, "Because, DiNozzo, I know about boats".

Further conversation was stopped when Gibbs' phone rang. Gibbs answered his phone in his usual gruff manner, then sighed and motioned for them to get their gear, he hung up and told them there was another body. Gibbs told McGee to stay at the office and go through the gear from the second body, and to change into some clean clothes, he didn't want him getting hyperthermia.

* * *

Tony had a sense of deja-vu as he sat in the chopper. He looked at Gibbs who had bags under his eyes and looked tired.

"You pull an all-nighter again, boss?" he asked

"What makes you think that, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked

"Well, for starters you're wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday" Tony replied

Gibbs put his head on the window and closed his eyes, "Something wrong with that?" he asked

"Not at all boss" Tony said, smiling. He looked at Ducky and saw the concern in the older man's eyes.

* * *

The crime scene was ostensibly the same. The body looked in better shape than the other two and the slit on his neck didn't look as deep. Gibbs glanced at Ducky, who was kneeling beside the body, which had been identified as PO Burns.

"Impossible to say, Gibbs. The man was beaten, his throat was cut and he was put in the freezer. But he couldn't have been in there for more than a day. Look at the coloring here" Ducky pointed to a patch of skin and shook his head, "Such a waste of life"

Gibbs nodded in answer, "Time of death?"

"I'm not sure, Jethro" Ducky replied in a far-off tone of voice

Gibbs put away his note-pad and told him to call if they found anything. He walked to where Kate and Tony were taking pictures and bagging and tagging evidence.

He grumbled, then said he was going to interrogate Brown again, and then anybody else he thought might know something

Gibbs found Brown in his cabin. Brown looked up from his book and raised his eyebrows.

"Problem?" Brown asked

"Yeah, why was your blood found in Srg Dowling's cabin?" Gibbs asked, getting straight to the point

"I cut myself whilst I was sharpening one of my knives. Jane took me into her cabin and applied first-aid" Brown replied, holding up his hand, which was bandaged

Gibbs raised his eyebrows "Chef?"

"Yeah, head chef here. I like playing with my knives"

"What was your relationship with Srg Simpson?"

"You asked me that yesterday"

"Well I'm asking again"

Brown sighed and got up from the bed, "Want coffee?"

"No, thank you"

"Ok" Brown said, heading to the cafeteria. Gibbs followed and heard him order a Latte. Gibbs smiled, his coffee suited his personality

Brown looked back at Gibbs and saw the smile, "What's so funny?"

"I can tell a lot about a person's character by their coffee" Gibbs replied

Brown frowned, not understanding. Brown picked up the coffee and went back to his cabin

"Latte, interesting choice" Gibbs said flatly, indicating to the cup in Brown's hand

"Yeah, I used to drink a stronger coffee until it caused stomach ulcers, put me on some medication and told me to drink a weaker coffee"

Gibbs nodded, "So, your relationship with Srg Simpson?"

"Purely professional" he replied, a little too quickly

"Right. What about PO Burns?"

Brown frowned, "What happened to him?"

"He's dead"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that"

"Were you close?"

"No, never really liked him. But I'm not the one who slit his throat" Brown replied, taking a sip of his coffee

* * *

Tony looked at Kate as the chopper disappeared into the horizon

"So, wanna get something to eat?" he asked

"As long as you're buying" Kate replied, walking off the heli-pad

Tony smiled and followed her, "Try not to get knocked out this time, Kate" Tony said as they walked into the cafeteria, "I don't wanna get left alone with Gibbs"

Kate nodded and got a far away look in her eyes

"So, what's going on between the two of you anyway" he asked

Kate frowned, "Nothing"

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" Tony asked, smiling

Kate rolled her eyes and told him to just order the damn lunch. They sat down and discussed the case over lunch. Kate believed the perp must have gotten distracted because the attack hadn't seemed complete, and was less severe than the other two. She stated that there seemed to be a degree of detachment with this murder. Tony agreed and told her his theory:

"Ok, so as I said the first time we came here, it was some kind of unresolved sexual issue. I hold to that statement. The second guy was killed to take the heat off the guy – make it look like a serial murder or something, not a personal killing" Tony explained

"That's what I said" Kate told him, "What about this guy?"

"He found out. Our perp had to kill him" Tony replied

Kate nodded, "Yeah, probably. That or the perp decided he enjoyed killing those men…"

"Maybe"

They ate the rest of lunch in silence until Tony's cell rang

"DiNozzo" he answered. Kate could here Ducky on the other end.

"Anthony, have you seen Jethro?" Ducky asked

"No, he went to question a few people. Why?"

"He's not answering his cell. Our marine, PO Burns isn't dead…"

"What!" Tony asked standing up, looking at Kate, "Why? How's that possible?"

"You can't pronounce a person dead when they are cold, he wasn't dead. Tony, you need to listen to me, when he woke – before he lost consciousness he said something, I believe it's a name – 'Brown' – does this mean anything to you?"

* * *

That's it for chapter 14... I hope you like it! Please review, pretty please! 


	15. Chapter 15

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

This chapter is a bit shorter than the rest of them, but hopefully the upcoming chapters will more than make up for it.

And of course, again a gigantic thankyou to Kate for her fantastic inspiration and fantastic work!

* * *

Tony finished talking with the captain of the ship and turned to Kate who was pacing back and forth. Tony sighed and approached her, "Kate?" he asked, but got no response. "Kate?" this time she looked at him

"He shouldn't have gone off on his own. He should have taken one of us with him" she replied

"We both know he would never have allowed that. He's been doing this for 19 years, Kate" Tony said, putting his hands on her shoulders, "We're gonna find him, we're gonna get him back"

"Yeah, preferably alive and well" Kate replied, "And asking for coffee"

Tony smirked, "But then he'd lose the bet"

Kate gave a small smile, "He'd better be ok, otherwise I gonna have to kick his ass" she said, then looked down

Tony watched her, then pulled her into to a hug and rested his chin on her head, "He'll be fine, everything's gonna be okay. We'll have him back in no time," he said, trying to lighten her mood, "He'll be demanding coffee and be his normal grumpy self in no-time"

They stood there as one for a moment, gathering their thoughts, then slowly pulled out of each others grasp. Kate sighed and nodded her thanks at Tony.

"In the meantime, however, I have declared him MIA" Tony said, "And as I am the senior field agent, I'm coordinating the search. The captain has said he'd give us his full cooperation, he's gonna lend us a few officers to help with the search. Gibbs is on this ship somewhere, we are going to find him" Tony emphasized each word. "Brown's cabin has already been checked, nobody is there. Nobody leaves the ship without our okay either. We're checking the cabins near the top of the ship first, the ones with the higher ranking officers, then working our way down. Any questions?"

* * *

McGee sighed; it'd been a long day. He threw the paper from his lunch to the bin and missed. He'd have to work on that, he thought as he got up from his chair and put the paper in the bin. He looked up at the clock and stretched, 3 o'clock, he yawned and wondered if the rest of the team had turned up anything on the ship. He went back to his computer and sat down, looking back at the screen. The words all merged into one, completely indistinguishable, McGee frowned, and focused on the screen. Eventually he coaxed the words back to their rightful place and started reading again. He sighed again, this was getting him nowhere fast. He looked back at the clock, only 5 minutes had passed. He wondered if the clock had the ability to go backwards, he watched as the second hand made its way around the clock, going so slowly it almost stopped. The hand lingered on the 4, for a bit longer than usual, then moved forwards again, then stopped. McGee frowned as the hand didn't move forwards again, he couldn't have made time stop, he continued staring at the clock, the hand didn't move. He slowly tore his eyes away from the clock and looked around the office, half-expecting to see everybody frozen in place. But he was slightly surprised to see people still moving, he looked back at the clock. The hand was still slightly over the 4. He raised his eye-brows; it must have run out of batteries. He shook his head and got up, heading for the elevator, being with Abby always made the time go faster, he thought with a smile.

* * *

"Tony this is pointless" Kate snapped as they shut the door to what seemed like this thousandth cabin

"Do you have a better idea, Kate?" Tony snapped back, as he banged on another door to another cabin "NCIS, open up!" he yelled

"We are wasting time, Tony" Kate replied as Tony banged on the door again

Before Tony could reply, the door opened and a sailor looking like he'd just woken up stood in the doorway, in only his boxers.

"What do ya want?" the sailor asked

"Looking for either of these men" Tony said, holding up pictures of Gibbs and Brown

"Never seen 'em" the sailor replied without looking at the pictures, moving to close the door

"We don't have time for this" Kate scowled

Tony rolled his eyes, wedging his foot in the door, kicking it open and drawing his gun "To the back of the room, now!" he shouted, loosing his patience

The sailor put up his hands and did as he was commanded, muttering under his breath. Tony and Kate moved in and searched the cabin, looking for any sign of their lost team mate.

As one they found nothing and left the room, heading to the next, knowing they wouldn't find anything. "Tony, this is pointless" Kate repeated, more to herself than to him

"Don't you think I know that, Kate? We have nothing! He's not answering his cell! He hasn't left us a note saying where he is! He could be anywhere on this goddamn boat! It could take weeks to search this place! I'm handling this, the best way I know how! So, if you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it!" he snapped. They were standing out the front of the next cabin.

Kate stared at Tony after his outburst, she hadn't realised it had affected him this much. She looked at the door in front of them, "Well, I don't have a better way" she said, pulling out her gun again "But I have a faster way". With that, Kate kicked open the door, yelling "NCIS, against the wall, now!"

* * *

That's it for chapter 15... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	16. Chapter 16

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a gigantic thankyou to Kate for her fantastic inspiration and fantastic work!

* * *

Gibbs woke up and opened his eyes, his vision was still blurry. He tried to focus, but that made his head pound. He frowned and tried to remember what had happened, he rubbed his hand over his head and gasped in pain. A chill ran through his body, making him bring his knees to his chest and rubbed his arms. He felt his head laying in something cold, perhaps water. The thought of water made Gibbs open his eyes again as he realised his throat was bone dry. He put his hand up to his head and felt the wet patch, then brought his hand in-front of his eyes and squinted. His hand was red, it took him a while to realise it was blood, his blood. Putting his arm back by his side, he tried to sit up, but was hit with a wave of nausea. He tried to fight it and sat up straighter, but his vision went black and his body thumped back onto the cold hard ground as he slipped into unconsciousness again.

* * *

Tony slammed the door of the last cabin and walked to where Kate was standing, hugging herself. He sighed and took in her appearance; the last couple of hours had taken its toll on her.

"Well that the last of that block, lets see if we have any better luck in the next" Kate said, turning to walk to the next lot of cabins

"Look, Kate, lets take a break, get something to eat, then come back fresh" Tony suggested

"Tony, we only just ate" Kate replied

Tony looked at his watch, "Actually, that was four hours ago." Kate frowned at him, "What! If I don't eat, I feel sick and like I'm gonna pass out, hasn't happened yet cause I usually eat something"

"You have diabetes?" Kate asked

"No, just a fast metabolism" Tony replied

"I'm not gonna take a break because you wanna eat. Can you imagine how that would sound in a report? 'We would have saved Special Agent Gibbs, but we decided to take a break and have a picnic instead'"

"Better than, 'Halfway through the search, Agent DiNozzo decided to take a trip to the hospital wing due to falling unconscious. Prior to the incident he was aware that he needed to obtain sustenance, but against his better judgment, decided to be an ass and continue with the fruitless search.'"

Kate rolled her eyes and turned on her heel "Fine, go get some goddamn food. I'm going to 'be an ass and continue with the fruitless search'"

"You want anything?" Tony called after her.

But all he heard in response was the knocking down of a door and "NCIS, against the goddamn wall! Now!" he was sure he heard her voice crack on the last word, he sighed and turned around.

* * *

Ducky got out of the chopper and ran with the paramedics as they moved the PO out of the chopper and into the waiting ambulance, going through the mans stats. Mark, one of the paramedics, nodded his thanks and loaded the PO into the ambulance. Ducky watched as the ambulance drove off and sighed; he turned around and made his way to NCIS HQ. He entered the bullpen and looked around for McGee. He frowned and decided to check the lab. As Ducky walked into the lab, he heard the typically loud music that Abby played and spotted McGee at the work-station opposite to Abby.

"Timothy!" he called

"Ah, Duck-man" Abby said, turning down the music to speak, "What can I do for you?"

McGee turned around and watched Ducky. "What does Brown mean to you?" Ducky asked

"A colour, darker than orange and lighter than black" Abby replied, looking back at her monitor

"Abs, he's referring to Lt Brown. He's a friend of the last two victims, was in a relationship with one of them for a while. His blood was found at the first crime scene" McGee replied, "But, Gibbs dismissed him as a suspect, why?"

"Because the third victim is alive, he mentioned Brown when he woke" Ducky replied

"Alive?" McGee asked

"You know, now that you mention who he is, the partial print I picked up matched Brown's" Abby said

"What!" McGee asked

"As well as fourteen others McGee, Gibbs knows that" Abby replied

Ducky nodded, "I informed Anthony and Caitlin, but couldn't get hold of Jethro"

McGee picked up the phone as Abby turned to Ducky, "The PO you picked up was alive?"

"Yes, he was, is. He woke in the helicopter". Abby nodded

"He's still not answering, and neither is Tony or Kate" McGee said as he put the phone down

"That's because they're outta range, Tim" Abby said, rolling her eyes, "And you say you went to MIT…"

* * *

Tony handed Kate a packet of chips and a cup of hot coffee. "Eat" he said simply

"What took you so long? You've been hours" Kate asked

"Actually it was three quarters of an hour. I got lost" he replied

Kate rolled her eyes and sat down with a sigh. She took a sip of the coffee and screwed up her face. "Jesus Tony, how much sugar did you put in this? I like my coffee sweet, but not this sweet"

"Yeah, well I figured you needed it" Tony said, sitting down beside her

"Why!" she asked, watching him, "You think I'm in shock, don't you?"

"I'm pretty damn sure you are" Tony replied. Kate continued to stare at him; Tony watched her and let out a breath, "Kate, it's perfectly normal". Kate shook her head and looked up. "I know that you both feel more for each other than you would ever admit, or allow. More than you would for just a co-worker"

"He's my boss, Tony" Kate finally replied, "I don't know what makes you think…" Kate stopped as Tony pulled out his PDA and tapped the screen a few times, "What are you doing?"

"I took this photo on the chopper back to NCIS after Lt Mitchell died" he explained then showed her the photo, "I was going to use it as a kind of bribe against you, kinda like the wet T-shirt picture, but…" he trailed off

Kate looked at the photo of herself and Gibbs sleeping against each other on the chopper. Tony watched Kate as her eyes filled with tears, but didn't fall.

"Why?" she asked, looking at him

"Why what?"

"Why…him?"

"Kate, you can't help who you fall in love with" Tony replied, wiping away a stray tear that made its way down her face, and pulled her into his arms, "Remember he had a part in this too"

Kate gave a small smile, "You make it sound like I'm pregnant"

Tony pulled himself out of the hug, "Are you?" he asked looking into her eyes

"No!" she replied, slapping his arm, "We haven't slept together or anything. Besides, it would never happen, it could never work" she said, "Rule 12"

"Well, you're gonna have to make some rules of your own" Tony said, then gestured to the food, "Now, eat something"

* * *

McGee took another deep sigh and tried to focus on the screen in front of him. Abby looked up at him and frowned, "McGee, if you keep sighing like that, you're gonna pass out from hyperventilating"

"Sorry Abs, it's just," he subconsciously stopped and sighed, "Gibbs is MIA, Kate and Tony are over there, searching for him, trying to save him, with the killer still on the loose. Meanwhile, I'm," he sighed again, gesturing with his hands, "I'm here and there's nothing I can do"

Abby nodded and waited for him to continue, but when he just looked down, she walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. McGee looked up into her eyes, "I should be over there with them, Abs."

"But you're not. You're here, with me." She said, moving around the chair he was sitting in, to stand behind him. She gently rubbed his shoulders, "You're tense" she said softly, "So, in the meantime, we should go over what we know. What do we know?"

McGee sighed, "Well, the murderer knows his victims, has a drink with them. He then brutally bashed them…" he stopped and shook his head, "I don't know. I should try to interrogate the PO that Ducky brought back"

"According to Duck-man, he's still in a coma" Abby replied

"I know. The PO was originally thought dead when he was alive…" McGee mused, "But couldn't be pronounced dead, because…" he turned to look at Abby for help

"You can't pronounce somebody dead when they are cold, hyperthermia can stop your heart…" Abby explained, but McGee didn't hear the rest

"Hyperthermia!" he exclaimed, standing up, "All the victims, they were cold!" he looked at Abby to see if she would put the pieces together. "I know where Gibbs is. I have to get in contact with Tony and Kate"

* * *

That's it for chapter 16... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	17. Chapter 17

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

This chapter is shorter than the rest of them, but hopefully the upcoming chapters will make up for it.

Merry xmas to all!

And of course, again a gigantic thankyou to Kate for her brilliant inspiration and fantastic work!

* * *

Tony slammed the door to yet another cabin and leaned against it. He jumped slightly as he heard a cup smash from the other side of the door; they must have thrown it at the door.

"Unhappy customer?" Kate asked as she came out of a cabin on the other side of the hall

"You could say that" Tony replied, moving onto the next door

"So, you and Gibbs have never slept together. Yet he knows what your tat is of" Tony said

"He doesn't know, Tony" Kate replied

"Sure he doesn't" Tony said, kicking down the next door, but found no-one inside. He quickly searched the cabin, but came out empty. He closed the door and watched Kate do the same

"So, have you ever kissed?" Tony asked

"If I say yes will you shut-up about it?" Kate asked, pausing in-front of the next door

"Yep" Tony replied and smiled

They simultaneously kicked open the doors and searched the next cabins. They met outside the closed doors again.

"Did it involve tongue?" Tony asked

Kate rolled her eyes and kicked open the door to the next cabin. Tony gave a small laugh and did the same. "NCIS, against the wall now!" he shouted as he found two officers in the bed, then cocked an eye-brow at them, "Actually, stay right where you are" he commanded. He searched the room and glanced at the two in the bed. Kate walked in and looked at the expression on his face.

"Honestly Tony, couldn't you just wait till we get back?" she asked

He walked out of the room and closed the door, leaning against it. Kate went to the next cabin and searched through it. When she came back to the hall-way, she noticed Tony hadn't moved. "Tony, why are you acting like you've never seen that before?" she asked

Tony looked up at her, raising his eyebrows, "Did you see the painting above the bed?" he asked. Kate gave him a blank gaze, he continued, "Called Ice-cream Magic by some relatively unknown painter…"

"So…?" Kate asked

"Ice-cream" Tony said, subconsciously licking his lips. Kate rolled her eyes and almost said something, but was cut off by Tony, "It reminds me of something, my gut tells me it's important, but…"

"Ice-cream?" Kate asked, "On a day like today?" she remembered it had been raining when they arrived, "Too cold"

There was a moment of silence as the two were lost in their own thoughts. Kate gasped and looked at Tony, "Oh my God". Tony looked at Kate, waiting for her to explain.

"Kate?" he asked

"Gibbs, Kitchen, Freezer, Now!" she said, taking off at a run

* * *

Gibbs tried to open his eyes, but something was keeping them closed. He reached up his arm from where it lay across his chest, immediately feeling the warmth leave. Ignoring the pain caused by moving his arm, he rubbed his eyes, feeling icicles on his eye-lashes. He gently removed the gunk and blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings. There was frozen meat hanging from hooks in one corner and other food sitting on shelves on the other side of the room. He lifted his head, but the room began to spin, doing a whole 360. He put his head back on the ground, fearing he would lose consciousness again and in the present conditions, he decided that was not a good idea. He broke into a fit of coughing and tried to sit up again, his coughing eventually subdued to a wheeze. He was surprised by how weak he felt and sounded. Grasping the pole of the set of shelves, he pulled himself into a sitting position. He tried to bite back the cry of pain as he did so, his muscles burning from the cold, lack of movement and whatever else. Leaned against the shelves, he took deep breaths, trying to coax his vision to stop doing whirl-a-twirls. He pulled his jacket tighter as his body continued to tremble, vaguely noting that his breath was hardly making an impression on the air. He watched for the 'smoke'-like impression that he would normally have got and frowned when not a lot happened. Wondering how long he'd been in there, he looked at his watch, wiping off a layer of icicles; he calculated that he'd been in here for around 5-6 hours.

He began coughing again, so intensely that his body was rocked backwards and forwards by the coughs; he was unable to stop the shout of pain as his head hit the pole he was leaning against. He felt blood trickle down his neck and tried to keep his eyes open as he was overcome by an immense tiredness. It would be so easy to give in and let the tiredness consume him, take him to a warm, comfy place, he mused. He sighed, setting off another coughing attack, which in turn, made every part of his body ache. It subsided to deep wheezes and Gibbs closed his eyes to stop the world spinning. He thought of his time at NCIS, and thought of all the time he'd spent with Kate but had never told her what he truly thought of her…

"Gibbs!" he heard a mumbled call. He tried bringing himself back from wherever his mind had wondered and opened his eyes to gaze at the door

* * *

That's it for chapter 17... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	18. Chapter 18

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

This chapter is shorter than the rest of them, but hopefully the upcoming chapters will make up for it.

Merry xmas to all!

And of course, again a gigantic thank you to Kate for her fantastic work and inspiration!

* * *

"Get that goddamn door open now!" Kate shouted, pointing her gun at one of the chefs

"I can't, I don't have a key" the man replied nervously, eyeing the gun

"Why not? Who does?" Tony asked, equally as frustrated

"Brown. He's the head chef. Nobody goes in there except him. He brings out anything we need for the day before we get here" the man replied

Kate looked at Tony and pointed her gun at the door, clicking off the safety. "Whoa! Kate, no!" Tony said, stepping to her side and pushing her gun down "That could be very dangerous"

"You have a better idea?" she asked

"Well, I was thinking along the lines of a fire-extinguisher and shooting a cap threw it" he replied

"And that's not dangerous?"

"Well, yes, but I always wondered what it'd look like. But then I thought, 'Hey! We're on a navy ship, the explosives they have are so much better'" he replied, "And, I thought this may happen on the way up, so I radioed one of the officers to bring some explosives, they are so much more impressive"

"And, they will rip Gibbs to shreds if he is in there" Kate replied

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm not as irresponsible as Tony. That's why I brought the master key" a man said, walking up to Kate and Tony. Kate raised her eye-brows, "We'll do introductions later, I understand one of your agents is trapped in here" he continued, unlocking the door and shoving it a couple of times, eventually it squeeked open.

The door swung open and Kate literally ran in, with Tony close behind. They found Gibbs sitting up against a set of shelves; he looked up at them as they approached, "What took you so goddamn long? Where the hell have you been?" he asked.

Kate and Tony were a bit taken back by the harshness of his voice, but realised that may have been something to do with being in a freezer all day. Kate took in his appearance, his face was bruised, he seemed to have a head-wound and he was shivering uncontrollably. Other than that, he looked tired and cold. Kate stepped forwards, taking off her jacket to wrap it over Gibbs' shoulders, "You okay?".

"I'm fine" Gibbs croaked and pulled himself up, leaning heavily against the pole. He took a step away from the shelves and stumbled into Tony, who caught him.

"Whoa, boss. Easy, I've got you" he said, putting Gibbs' arm over his shoulders and putting his arm around his waist, with Kate doing the same on his other side.

"I'm okay" Gibbs wheezed, "I'm fine"

They took small steps towards the door, Gibbs tried to convince them the whole time that he was okay, but the further they moved, the more he slurred and leant on them for support. They noticed that his breathing had become deep and slow and he began dragging his feet. As they got out of the freezer, Gibbs put his full weight on his two agents as he fell into unconsciousness again.

"Kate? You got him?" Tony asked, feeling the added weight and seeing Gibbs' eyes close

"Yeah" she replied

"Good, lets get him clear of the door" Tony said, dragging Gibbs to a clear area in the kitchen, "Here, lets put him down"

Tony and Kate gently lowered him to the floor and waited for the medics to arrive. Kate felt his neck for a pulse, it was weak and thready, but it was there. Kate sighed and looked at Tony, who had the same worried expression on his face. Before he could say anything his cell rang, he frowned at the caller ID, but picked up anyway.

"DiNozzo?"

"Tony, it's Abby. We know where Gibbs is…" Abby said

"Yeah, the freezer, thanks" Tony said and hung up

* * *

Abby turned to McGee, "He is so turning into Gibbs" she stated.

"Yeah, it's kinda scary" McGee replied

"Not as scary as autopsy…" Abby replied, then went into a detailed explanation

* * *

Ducky paced around autopsy, anxious to hear from Kate and Tony. He sighed and looked at the clock, 6 hours since Gibbs had been declared MIA. Ducky stopped pacing and took the elevator back to the lab.

"I've had enough of this. I'm going back to the ship" Ducky declared as he walked in. McGee and Abby looked up at him.

McGee jumped out of his seat, almost falling over "I'm coming"

Abby walked around to McGee, "Then take these. Hold out your hand," McGee did as he was asked, and Abby placed two tablets in the centre of his palm "For sea-sickness, I don't think Gibbs'd appreciate you throwing up over him". McGee nodded and took the pills straight

"Gibbs has been found?" Ducky asked

"Yeah, about 10 minutes ago. He was in the freezer" Abby replied

Ducky nodded and got a concerned expression on his face, "He's been in there for almost six hours, he'll have severe hypothermia...he may even slip into a coma…"

"Ok, let's go." McGee said, heading for the elevator with Ducky close behind.

"Ring me when you know something" Abby called after them

* * *

That's it for chapter 18... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	19. Chapter 19

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Happy New Year to all! Hope you all had a good xmas

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

Kate stood up and looked at the approaching nurse expectantly. The nurse gave a small smile and continued walking. Kate watched her retreating back and sat down again next to Tony with a thump. Tony opened his eyes and looked over at Kate, his eyes asking a silent question, lifting his head from the back of the seat. Kate shook her head and let out a small breath, looking down. Tony sighed and briefly closed his eyes. He looked back at Kate and put his hand on her knee, to stop it from bouncing up and down. She looked down at his hand, then back up to his eyes and saw the concern in them. They sat in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts and pulling comfort from each other.

Tony watched as Kate hunched forwards and put her head in her hands. Without saying a word, he put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back to lean against his chest and wrapped his arms around her.

"He looked so…terrible" Kate said softly into his chest, "So tired, and cold, and … did you see the gash on the back of his head?"

Tony nodded and stared into the distance, "Yeah" he replied distantly, "And it's my fault". He felt her head move, and looked down to see Kate looking back up at him, frowning.

"What! Don't be ridiculous, Tony" she said, "This is not your fault"

"Yeah, it is" he said and looked away, "If it wasn't for me, he would have been on top of his game and seen it coming"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked

"Kate, he's going through withdrawals, from coffee. Remember the bet I had with him." He explained, "He would have been slow reacting, distracted, withdrawn"

"Bullshit, Tony!" Kate said, reaching up and turning his head to face her. She looked into his eyes, "For a start, he accepted the bet, knowing full-well what would happen. This is not your fault!"

Tony gave a small attempt at a smile, but failed miserably. Kate sighed and put her head back on his chest. "You know, Kate, when we get back, you should tell him how you feel." Tony said, "And that's an order"

"I don't take orders from you, Tony. Besides, he doesn't return the feelings" Kate replied

Tony made a small choking sound, "What? Yes he does. He watches you when he thinks nobody is watching him, his behavior changes around you, he flirts with you…"

"Tony, _you_ flirt with me" Kate reminded him

"Yeah, but our relationship is different, we both know that. You're kinda like a sister that I love to piss off…or something. Anyway, you're missing my point" Tony replied

"He just sees me as a colleague, Tony, just another woman" Kate said

Tony smiled, "Actually, no he doesn't, he said as much to me". Kate looked up at him with a questioning look. "We were on a stake-out a few months ago. The one with the serial murderer who dumped the body on popular running paths."

"Yeah, I remember" Kate said, waiting for him to go on

"I asked him about his ex-wives and why he doesn't date much anymore" Tony said

"He's married to his job, and doesn't have time" Kate interjected

"Yeah, well, he said that. And that most women are terrified of him. When I told him that you weren't terrified of him, he responded, and I quote, 'Kate isn't like most women'" Kate gasped, "I wanted to continue the conversation further, but our suspect made a move"

Kate was about to respond when she felt Tony's body tense and saw him looking over her shoulder. She turned around and saw a man in scrubs approaching them. She untangled herself from Tony's arms and stood to greet the man. She heard Tony stand behind her and felt his hands on her shoulders.

"Agent Todd?" the man asked looking at Kate, who merely nodded. "I'm Dr Holland; I'm the surgeon who operated on Agent Gibbs."

"How is he?" Tony asked

"Hard to say at this stage. The damage to the back of his head is quite extensive, but the surgery was a success" Dr Holland replied

"Any complications?" Tony asked

The doctor sighed, "I really can't go into any details. Doctor-patient confidentiality, I'm sure you understand" he looked from Tony's face to Kate's and continued, "Look, all I can tell you is that he has severe head trauma and severe hyperthermia, along with minor cuts and abrasions." He paused, "And that we are giving him the best care we can"

"That's not good enough" Tony said, removing his hands from their place on Kate's shoulders and moved around to stand in-front of Kate, as if protecting her and faced the doctor. He moved into the man's personal space and looked down at him with a glare that would have made Gibbs proud. "You will tell me what I want to hear" he commanded the smaller man, "And I want details"

The doctor became noticeably uncomfortable and shifted under Tony's gaze, he held back for a second, not giving anything away, then looked around the waiting room.

"Is there somewhere we can go, a bit more private than here?" Kate asked, seeing the man's anticipation.

The man nodded and glanced back at Tony, before walking off. Tony followed him, then turned to Kate, "Ah, I think it would be best if you wait here" Tony told her. Kate began to refuse, but Tony interrupted her, "Kate, it wasn't a question! Stay here, I'll tell you everything when I get back." His voice softened, "This could be hard to hear", with that, Tony turned and followed the doctor.

* * *

"_He's dead"_

"_Oh, I'm sorry to hear that"_

"_Were you close?"_

"_No, never really liked the man. But I'm not the one who slit his throat" Brown took a sip of his coffee_

_He looked up from the notes he was writing, raising his eyebrows, realizing he hadn't told Brown how he had died. He glanced back down. "Where were you last night between the hours of 2330 and 0400?"_

"_In my freezer"_

"_Doing what?"_

"_Removing food that the other chefs require for today. I'm head chef, the only person with access to the freezer" Brown took another sip of his coffee and headed to his desk_

"_Can anyone vouch for your where-abouts during that time frame?"_

"_Nope. Absolutely none. Unless you include the dead cows in the freezer." _

_Gibbs made a humming sound, "Then we have ourselves a problem". _

_He heard something scrape along the desk and looked up in time to see a heavy object thrown at him. Gibbs quickly moved to the side and watched it go passed as Brown spear-tackled the ex-marine. They fell on the bed and tumbled to the floor as both men struggled to get the upper hand. They exchanged blows and rolled around, Brown gained the upper hand and got to his feet, kicking Gibbs hard in the stomach, causing him to double over, winded. He saw Brown walk across to where the heavy object had landed and got to his feet, ignoring his protesting muscles. He ran head first into the younger man and tackled him to the ground, knocking the man's head against the ground. Brown stopped moving and continued to lay still, seemingly unconscious. He got to his feet and made his way to the door, trying to get his breathe up enough to call somebody over. He leaned against the door frame and took several deep breaths. He didn't hear Brown get to his feet and pick up the heavy object, nor did he feel it when the object made contact with his head or feel the floor as he fell onto it. And he certainly didn't hear it when Brown said to his unconscious body, "No, you have yourself a problem"._

* * *

That's it for chapter 19... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	20. Chapter 20

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific inspiration and work!

This chapter is a bit longer than the rest, hope you enjoy it!

Hope everybody had a fantastic New Year!

* * *

Tony walked back to the waiting room to find Kate had fallen asleep over four chairs. His eyes cast over the rest of the room to come back and rest on Kate again. He knew she had taken this hard, she looked tired and withdrawn, and that was only physically, mentally, it would have run deeper. He sighed and sat down opposite her and watched her sleep, hoping he didn't have to tell her what he'd just heard; he didn't want to make her burden any heavier. Gently and quietly, he took off his coat and laid it over her shoulders, pushing a stray strand of hair back from her face.

"Hey" she mumbled, slowly opening her eyes, then blinking to clear away the sleep

"Hey" he said softly, "Enjoy your snooze?"

She nodded, "What did he say?". Tony looked down and away from her, breathing out slowly. "Tony, what did he say?" Kate asked again, more insistently this time

"The damage is…quite extensive. During surgery, he cardiac-arrested" he paused, "Um, his heart stopped…" he attempted to clarify

"Yeah, I know what a cardiac arrest is" Kate interrupted impatiently

Tony looked up at her and nodded, holding up two fingers, "He did that twice and twice, they brought him back. The doctor, Doctor Holland…is afraid that he won't recover, the chances of a full recovery" he paused to clarify, "Any recovery is small. The chance of brain damage, of becoming a vegetable is…significant"

"How significant?" Kate asked at a whisper, so quietly that Tony had to lean forward to hear

"Uh, it's…highly likely" Tony replied, dropping his own voice to just above a whisper, his voice cracking as he looked down.

Kate watched as Tony's eyes welled up with tears and as he blinked furiously to keep them at bay. "Oh, Tony" she said as she wrapped her arms around him, feeling her own eyes fill up.

They held each other in the embrace until Tony pulled back and looked at Kate, wiping the tear marks on her cheek with his thumb. He sniffled and cleared his throat, "Ah, they said that we could visit him, no more than two people for no more than 10 minutes." He gripped her shoulders with his hands and looked into her eyes, "You can have my 10 minutes"

"Tony, you don't…" she tried to object but was silenced by the shake of his head

"I have a thing with hospitals, Kate. I really don't like them. Have my 10 minutes, when Ducky gets here, I'll go in and see him" Tony explained

"How do you know Ducky's coming back?" Kate asked

"Do you really think he would stay at headquarters? Oh, and McGee will be coming too"

"McGee?"

"Yeah, the other guy we work with" Tony quipped, "Abby will be too busy with the stuff she's doing for one of the other guys in the department, can never remember his name…"

Kate gave him a small smile then hugged him. "I owe you, thanks Tony" she said from over his shoulder.

"That's what friends are for, Kate" Tony said, "But, remember, I will call this in later"

Kate smiled and pulled herself out of the hug and got to her feet. She looked around the waiting room, before resting her eyes on Tony again, "Um, Tony? Could you show me where they're keeping him?"

"Sure, follow me" he said and got up "Wouldn't want you to go all on your lone-some" he added, trying to keep the mood light

He showed Kate through some swinging doors, down a corridor and into a small room. The room had several machines in it, making beeping noises and whooshing noises. Gibbs' unconscious form could be made out on the bed, connected to the machines with various wires and tubes everywhere. Kate stopped in the doorway and gasped, then looked back at Tony, her mouth slightly ajar. She had expected him to be in bad shape, but hadn't been prepared for this. Looking back into the room, she noticed a tube coming from his mouth going to the whooshing machine. She recognized the machine from various cases she'd worked, but never had she thought that Gibbs would be relying on a machine to do his breathing. She felt hands rest of her shoulders and gave her a gentle shove into the room.

"Ducky believes that people in comas often hear people when they are being spoken to. He has accounts of people remembering conversations" Tony said softly

"He's in a coma?" Kate asked, just as softly

Tony gave a small solemn nod. Kate took a deep breath and regained her composure, before walking into the room and taking a seat on one of the chairs. Tony watched from the doorway as she sat down and took one of his hands. Turning on his heel, he walked back to the waiting room to find one of the officers who had helped with the search waiting for him. Tony walked up to him and gave him a questioning look.

"We lost Brown, sir" the man announced

"What do you mean, lost him?" Tony asked, glaring at him, "And don't call me sir"

"We can't find him" the man replied

"Look harder!" Tony snapped and walked off

* * *

Ducky and McGee got off the chopper as soon as it touched the tarmac and ran across the heli-pad towards the hospital wing. As they approached the area, they slowed to a fast walk and walked into the waiting area. They found Tony asleep, sprawled across 4 or so chairs and saw no sign of Kate. Ducky went to the on-duty nurse and talked with her for some time whilst McGee went to Tony and sat opposite him.

"What time is it probie?" Tony asked without opening his eyelids

"2300" McGee replied, "Although it'd daylight saving tomorrow, so technically its 2400"

Tony grunted, "Took you so long?"

"Got you all some clean clothes. How is he?" McGee asked

"Not good. Looks like shit, small chance of recovery" Tony replied, yawning and shifting against the chairs

Ducky returned from talking to the nurse and said that they could visit Gibbs. McGee got up and started to follow Ducky but stopped when he realised Tony wasn't behind him.

"Tony?" he asked. When he received no reply he called again, but stopped when he heard Tony's regular breaths and deduced that he'd fallen asleep.

"He must be exhausted" Ducky commented, "Physically and emotionally"

McGee nodded then walked with Ducky to Gibbs' room. When they walked inside, they were met by the same sight as Kate and Tony, momentarily taking their breaths away.

"My God, Jethro" Ducky said softly

Ducky regained his composure quickly and noticed Kate sleeping in a chair, hunched over and still clinging onto Gibbs' hand. He gave a small knowing smile, which soon disappeared as he looked back to the bed. He walked over to Kate and softly called her name.

"Gibbs?" she mumbled softly, then sat bolt up-right, almost hitting Ducky in his head. "What happened?" she asked

Ducky took a step back and sighed, "Nothing, Caitlin. You and Tony should get some rest, I'm sure they'll provide you both with beds"

Kate gave him a pleading look, then slowly got to her feet. She walked to the door, then turned around to face Ducky again, but before she could say anything, the machines in the room which had been beeping systematically, started screaming, the pulse erratic. Over the frantic beeps, they could hear a loud, deep buzzing sound.

"Kate, Tim, out now!" Ducky ordered as he pulled the pillow from under Gibbs' head

"What's happening?" McGee asked

"Cardiac arrest. Out now!" Ducky ordered then again

Kate and McGee did as they were told and watched as several nurses raced into Gibbs' room and went to work on him. Tony came running up to the room a few minutes after the nurses to join them.

"What happened?" he demanded

Neither Kate, nor McGee answered as they watched, transfixed by the nurses trying to bring their boss back. The nurses charged the defibrillator and shocked him, his body arched up, then collapsed back onto the bed. Kate turned away with tears going down her face, the sight too much for her to handle. Tony wrapped his arms around her and continued to watch as the procedure was repeated. There was more shouting from the room as the machines continued to beep like crazy and one of the nurses ran out to get

'10cc's' of something. The nurse came back in with a syringe and injected it into Gibbs. Tony looked down at Kate as Gibbs was shocked again, "He's going to make it" Tony said, but failed in convincing her as his voice cracked.

"He'd better" she whispered, looking up at him with red eyes and mascara running down her cheeks.

He pulled her closer and watched as the paddles were put on his chest again and the nurse shouted, 'Clear!'. Everybody stepped back as the shock went through Gibbs' body. Tony looked down again and heard the machines beeping differently, and surprised shouts. He looked back up to see Gibbs sitting bolt upright and trying to pull the tube out of his mouth. The nurses got hold of his hands, telling him to try to relax as they restrained him. Gibbs continued to fight them, finding it hard to breathe with the tube.

"Jethro, you need to relax!" Ducky told him sternly, "Breathe slowly, the machines will take care of the rest"

Gibbs lay back against the bed, and continued blinking rapidly, beginning to choke as he coughed, sending his heart rate through the roof.

Ducky came around to his side and took one of his hands in one of his own, "Gibbs, you need to calm down. Or you might go into cardiac arrest again"

Gibbs focused on Ducky and tried to do as he was told, but his heart rate continued to increase. A nurse entered the room and injected him with a syringe as he continued to struggle.

"What was that?" McGee asked Tony and Kate

"Sedative" Tony replied

"To somebody who has just been in a coma?" Kate asked

They watched as the fight began to leave Gibbs and his heart rate returned to normal. Gibbs flopped back against the bed, unconscious.

* * *

That's it for chapter 19... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	21. Chapter 21

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific inspiration and fantastic work!

This chapter is a lot longer than the rest, hope you enjoy it!

Hope everybody had a fantastic New Year!

* * *

Tony woke up to find Kate and Ducky were up already. He rubbed at his eyes and got off the bunk, cursing himself for not changing into PJ's before going to bed. He walked back to the hospital wing to find Ducky and Kate in Gibbs' room, talking quietly. Gibbs looked slightly better, his colour was no longer grey and the tube that was down his throat last night had been removed, replaced with an oxygen mask.

Tony yawned, "What's for breakfast?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Actually, I believe it's closer to lunch time, Anthony" Ducky replied

"Special Agent DiNozzo" a voice said from behind Tony

"Have you found Brown yet? Srg Vinci" Tony asked without turning around, remembering the young man's voice from last night.

"No, sir" the Srg replied, "He left on a chopper"

"What!" Tony asked, turning around

"S-sorry, sir. He's a pilot. He flew himself outta here" Vinci replied

"I thought I said that no chopper was to leave here without my permission!" Tony snapped

"You did…I'll take care of it, sir, sorry" Vinci replied quickly after seeing the glare on Tony's face, and almost ran out of the room

Tony sighed then glanced at Gibbs, before looking down. "We'll get him, boss"

"So, why are, you standing there, telling me about it?" Gibbs asked, between breaths

Tony looked back to the bed to see Gibbs with his eyes half-open, with one of his hands resting on his chest, holding the oxygen mask down so that he could talk.

"Boss, you're awake!" Tony exclaimed.

"Jethro, you need to keep that on" Ducky chided him, getting up to replace the mask

"Where is Brown?" Gibbs asked

"He did a Keyser Soze, boss" Tony replied

Gibbs took off the mask again and gave Tony a puzzled look, "Who?"

Gibbs began coughing, making Ducky get up and replace the mask again, giving him a concerned look

"Keyser Soze, one of the characters in The Usual suspects." Tony said, "Kevin Spacey and Stephen Baldwin. Great movie…"

"Tony!" Gibbs snapped, and between coughs asked "Where the hell is Brown?"

"Do you want the long version or the abridged version, boss?" Tony asked, then after a look from Gibbs, quickly added "We lost him"

"So find him" Gibbs snapped

"On it, boss" Tony replied, but didn't move.

"Now! Tony" Gibbs said, trying to sit up

"We can't, Gibbs. He flew himself outta here on a chopper. We've notified all airports, police, local authorities and anybody else worth notifying within flying distance." Tony replied

Gibbs breathed out heavily and swung his legs over the side of the bed, tossing off the oxygen mask. Sitting upright on the side of the bed, he began trying to pull out the IV line, when Ducky stopped him.

"Gibbs, you need your rest" he told him sternly

"I have a murderer to catch, Ducky!" Gibbs barked

"Yes, but you won't be much help to anybody if you pass out" Ducky responded

"I won't pass out, Ducky" Gibbs growled, shaking off the ME's hands, and pulling out the IV line

Ducky sighed. "You won't be able to do much from the boat, Jethro"

"That's why we're flying outta here" Gibbs said slowly, starting to cough. He took a few deep breaths to regain his breath and slowly put weight on his feet, "And it's a ship, not a boat"

"There are no helicopters on the ship at the moment, Gibbs" Kate said

"Actually one just landed" McGee said as he walked into the room, "Morning, boss"

Gibbs grunted, pulling his hand back from the bed to stand without support, on his own two feet, swaying a bit from standing on his own steam. He gave a small smile and looked over at Ducky, "And they said I wouldn't make it" he said, referring to the nurses and his condition. "Where are my clothes?"

"I'll get 'em" McGee said, leaving the room to go to the nurse's station

The four of them stood in silence until McGee came back a bit later with Gibbs' clothes. Gibbs took a few uneasy steps towards McGee, then stumbled into Kate who caught him. "Dammit!" he cursed under his breath

"Hey, I've got you, Jethro" she said, causing everybody in the room to raise their eyebrows

Gibbs smirked, "We're gonna have to stop meeting like this, people will start talking" he said between breaths as Kate helped him upright

"Or we could just go along with it" Kate suggested

"Nah wouldn't work." Gibbs responded seriously, "Nobody would believe it"

"Why not? You got a good body, and you're sexy" Tony said, "For an old man" he quickly added, explaining "I mean, to a women"

Everybody turned to Tony, raising their eyebrows at him. "Something you wish to tell us, Tony?" Gibbs asked, still leaning on Kate

Tony blushed and looked at Gibbs, then Kate "Ah, no boss" he said, uncomfortably, "I mean, yeah, I do actually"

"Would you like to expand on that?" Gibbs asked when Tony didn't say anymore

"Um, well, women are… I mean, women judge other women, say whether they think they are hot or good looking. Men do too; we don't necessarily say it aloud, at least not always. I'm just saying that you are good looking, for a guy." Tony explained, "Attractive even. But that's not too say that I think of you in that way, I'm not gay"

Gibbs frowned, and then nodded. "You're just, getting in touch with your feminine side" McGee commented

"Anthony, it is normal for men to be curious about…" Ducky began

"Ducky, I am not gay! I like women!" Tony insisted, interrupting Ducky

Kate frowned, then shrugged, "He's right though. Women judge other women, I'm betting men do the same." She looked up at Gibbs, "And you are sexy. Now, let me get you into bed"

McGee cackled and Ducky rubbed his face to hide his smirk, whilst Tony laughed outright. Kate blushed a deep red and looked at Gibbs who was smiling. "That an offer, Kate?"

Kate blushed a deeper red and opened her mouth to say something, but closed her mouth when she couldn't think of anything to say. She looked up at Gibbs who was still smirking at her; she looked over at McGee who had a thoughtful expression on his face as he looked between Gibbs and Kate. Her attention came back to Gibbs as she felt him almost lose his balance.

"Ah, Ducky?" Gibbs asked

Kate looked back up at Gibbs, to find that his face had gone pale and he was squinting in the general direction of Ducky.

"Yes, Jethro" he replied

"Where are you?" Gibbs asked

Ducky walked over to him and took his other arm. Gibbs gave him a small smile and stepped back. If it hadn't been for Kate and Ducky holding him upright, he would have fallen over. "This doesn't change anything, I want to go back on that chopper" Gibbs said

"And you will" Ducky replied, helping him walk back to the bed, "All in good time"

"There's no time like the present" Gibbs slurred, in between breaths as the effort of walking began to exhaust him

"Indeed" Ducky agreed, "But first you must regain your strength"

They reached the bed and Gibbs sat down on the edge of it, taking a few deep breaths, "I could do that in the chopper"

"Oh, stop with the whole 'macho-man' act, Gibbs" Kate said, "Do you even know how close we all came to losing you last night!". He looked up at her, surprised, and shook his head.

"We thought you were going to die, boss" Tony told him

Gibbs glanced at Tony, then looked at the ground.

"Yeah, then today you act as if its no big deal and that nothing happened" Kate said

"That's because nothing did" Gibbs replied, "I'm still here"

Kate looked at him in disbelief and left the room. McGee watched her leave and turned to see Tony glaring at Gibbs. "Go after her, Tim" Tony told him without looking away from Gibbs. McGee raised his eyebrows at being called by his first name, but did as he was told, "And close the door behind you". McGee nodded, then left.

"That was unfair, Jethro" Ducky told Gibbs as the door closed

"What!" Gibbs asked, apparently oblivious to what he'd done

"Okay, boss, I want you to listen to what I'm gonna say, and I want you to listen good" Tony said

Gibbs cocked his head on the side and frowned, but didn't say anything, waiting for Tony to continue.

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say, he closed his mouth and thought for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Gibbs was starting to get agitated, but decided to let him sweat it out for a while longer. He sighed and took his PDA out of his pocket and looked at it for a moment, then looked up at Gibbs. "Boss, I don't actually have much to say, because a picture speaks a thousand words". He turned the PDA around to show Gibbs the photo that he'd shown Kate only a day ago.

Gibbs looked up from the photo at Tony, let out a breath and swung his legs onto the bed and leaned back, to stare at the ceiling. Then he asked slowly, "How much is it gonna cost me…?"

"Oh no you don't. This is not just gonna go away." Tony replied, "She was worried sick about you yesterday, I don't know what she would have done if you hadn't made it"

Gibbs sighed and closed his eyes, "She would never feel that way towards me, Tony"

"What a load of bullshit!" Tony snapped

"Besides, she values her job too much" Gibbs said

"Jethro, there is more to Caitlin than meets the eye" Ducky said

Gibbs gave Ducky a confused look, before closing his eyes again. "You should talk to her" Ducky said

Gibbs mumbled something, but neither Ducky, nor Tony caught it.

"What was that, boss?" Tony asked

Gibbs huffed, "Nothing" keeping his eyes closed; turning onto his side, facing away from both men, "I guess I never thought she would think of me that way, like she didn't care or anything"

"Well, I don't know what made you think that" Tony responded, "I've never seen Kate like that before. She didn't eat, she hardly slept, she's been so worried about you"

"Really?" Gibbs asked, still facing the wall

Tony exchanged concerned glances with Ducky, "Yeah. Speak to her boss," Tony said as he put a supportive hand on Gibbs' shoulder. Gibbs flinched at the contact, "She might surprise you"

"The last time I was surprised by a woman was when my third ex-wife attacked me with a baseball bat. Not a surprise I want to experience again" Gibbs said

"There are no baseball bats on board, Gibbs" Tony responded, "And she would never do that"

Gibbs grunted, "I don't know. I need to think about it" he mumbled

"What is there to think about, Jethro? You are both attracted to each other and…" Ducky began

"And it could end in disaster." Gibbs interrupted, "Like every other relationship I've ever been in"

"Yes, but this relationship is different" Ducky responded

"What the hell makes you say that?" Gibbs asked frustrated, turning around

"Well, she's not a red-head" Tony quipped. Gibbs glared at him, then looked back at Ducky

"How do you know this won't end badly?" Gibbs asked

"Because I've never seen Kate cry before" Tony replied

Gibbs froze and narrowed his eyes at Tony, "She cried?" he asked, shocked

"Twice. Three times if you count her eyes filling with tears" Tony replied

"She cried for me?" Gibbs asked in disbelief

"No, she cried for world peace and because Goldilocks ate her porridge" Tony said sarcastically

"Shit!" Gibbs said under his breath and groaned as he lay back on the bed. He pinched his nose and stared at the ceiling, "Even if there was something there, between us, it would never work"

"Well it won't if you're not prepared to try" Ducky replied exasperated

"It's called self-preservation" Gibbs mumbled and closed his eyes again

Tony frowned, "You admitting you have feelings for Kate, boss?" he asked, a smirk appearing on his face

Gibbs made an unintelligible sound and pulled the covers on the bed around his shoulders

"What was that, boss?" Tony asked

Tony's question was me with silence as Gibbs didn't reply. Ducky watched the rise and fall of his friend's chest and gently called his name. When he didn't reply, Ducky looked at Tony, slightly surprised, "I believe our friend has fallen asleep, Anthony". He grabbed Tony lightly on the arm and led him out of the room, "Let's go and find young Caitlin"

* * *

That's it for chapter 21... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	22. Chapter 22

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her fantastic work and inspiration!

This chapter is a slightly longer than the rest, hope you enjoy it!

* * *

McGee found Kate in the corridor, just outside the waiting room. She was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall with her head in her hands. She looked up as he approached

"He can be such a bastard!" She told him

McGee got a confused expression on his face, "Gibbs?"

"No, McGee, Ducky. Who the hell do you think?" she responded sarcastically

McGee sat down next to her, "Yeah" he agreed, "I know how you feel" he sympathesized

Kate looked at him questioningly, "You've watched a friend almost die before?"

"Well, no, not unless you include watching your dog die" McGee replied, "I was referring to your feelings for Gibbs and how he pretends not to return …Ow!" he stopped as Kate lightly punched him. He rubbed his arm and frowned as he looked over at Kate who was glaring at him. "What I mean, Ka- I mean. Agent Todd, is that your relationship with Agent Gibbs is not professional... I mean, um, it is professional, it's just that it's more than that…"

"Okay, McGee, you have 5 seconds to tell me exactly what is on your mind!" Kate said threateningly

McGee didn't say anything and looked at Kate shocked, with his mouth gaping open

"One..." Kate said warningly

McGee continued to watch Kate

"Two…"

McGee eventually found his voice, "Ah, well, uh, we always thought there was something between you and Gibbs and waited to see if anything would happen"

"What? Like a bet?" Kate asked, then thoughtfully looked at the ceiling, "I'm gonna kill Tony!"

"What! Tony? Why?" McGee asked quickly

"Because he had a bet that Gibbs and I would get together, and worked with me yesterday to try to win!" Kate answered her voice shaking as she felt hurt. She thought back to the previous day and of all the kind gestures Tony had shown her, _and it was all for a bet_, she thought bitterly.

"Tony?" McGee asked again, "No, he didn't know about it. It was Abby and me; we were going to try to hook you guys up after he was hugging you in the elevator…"

"The elevator broke down, we were trying to keep warm, it was in the minuses in there." Kate replied

"He wouldn't have done that for the rest of us" McGee insisted

"That's because the rest of you are men, McGee" Kate responded

"But have you seen the way he looks at you? Or how he always seems to be in a better mood around you?", he paused and looked thoughtfully at the wall opposite them, "That's why I prefer working with you more than I do with Tony"

Kate tilted her head and watched him.

"Anyway, our plans kept back-firing, so we gave up, but we never gave up hope that something would happen. But, Tony had nothing to do with it." McGee finished

"Oh" Kate responded. She let out a small breath and watched a doctor go past, "It doesn't matter anyway, he would never act on it if he felt that way about me"

"Because of rule 12?" McGee asked

"Yeah, that and he's too much of a bastard. Wouldn't want to ruin his career" Kate said bitterly, "Oh, and because he's not in touch with his feelings."

McGee smirked and agreed, "He has feelings?" he asked sarcastically

Kate smiled but didn't reply. She watched a few nurses walk past, chattering eagerly. "You know, I don't think I'll be able to work with him much longer, if he doesn't act soon" she finally said

McGee looked at her, surprised, "What are you saying, Kate?" he asked carefully

Kate gazed at the far end of the corridor, still watching the nurses, "I don't know" she said vaguely, "Doesn't matter" she said under her breath

She made to get up, but was stopped by McGee hand on her shoulder, "What did you mean, that you won't be able to work with him much longer? Are you thinking of leaving?"

Kate was saved from responding by the arrival of Tony and Ducky. She stood up and looked at them as they approached, Tony had a frustrated look on his face and Ducky didn't look too pleased either. McGee got up and stood beside her, still looking stunned.

"So, who feels like something to eat?" she asked, trying to avoid the topic they all wanted to talk about

"Caitlin, we should talk" Ducky said after a small sigh

"I thought we were" Kate replied before walking off

* * *

They boarded the chopper two hours later after taking time out from each other. Apart from Gibbs, they never really knew how constricting it was to stay on a ship, to be constantly in each others faces. They had all needed the time out, and for the most part, felt better as a result of it. Kate, however, still refused to look at any of them, avoiding eye contact with them by staring out the window. She sat at the opposite end of the chopper to Gibbs, who hadn't said anything since he'd been woken up by Ducky. The only reason he'd spoken was to refuse being carried to the chopper in a stretcher, insisting that he could walk, but had settled for a wheelchair when Ducky hadn't accepted no for an answer.

Tony looked back and forth between the pair like it was a tennis match, expecting them to begin an argument any second, the tension in the chopper making him slightly anxious. When nothing happened, he glanced at Ducky before taking out his game-boy and playing a game with the noise turned down so he wouldn't draw undue attention to himself.

McGee watched Tony take out his game-boy and sighed. He occasionally stole glances in Kate's direction but got no reaction. He looked to Ducky, wishing he could tell him what Kate had told him, but decided against it as everybody would hear him and he didn't want that. Leaning his head back on the chair, he cracked his neck and squinted at Gibbs, who was fighting to stay awake. Gibbs' eyes would slowly close and his head would roll forward before he would suddenly awake again and regain his composure, blinking a few times before it happened again. Eventually his head remained down and his breathing became even and deep.

The journey back to NCIS passed without incident, Kate continued to gaze out the window, Tony alternated between playing his game and watching Kate and McGee fell asleep. Half-way through the flight, Gibbs briefly woke up after he startled himself by mumbling in his sleep. He grunted before going back to sleep, subconsciously leaning his head on Ducky's shoulder. Ducky watched his collegues for a while, before softly mumbling to himself, his monologue continuing for the entire journey.

When the chopper landed at NCIS, Tony breathed a sigh of relief and got out as soon as he was given the all-clear by the pilots. Kate woke McGee and got out after Tony, with just as much eagerness. Ducky watched McGee leave, yawning as he got out of the chopper. Ducky turned to Gibbs who was still sleeping on his shoulder and gently shook him and softly called his name. He frowned when Gibbs didn't respond and shook him again, calling his name louder. He called for Kate, in a vane attempt to unite the pair. When Gibbs didn't respond again, he put his fingers to Gibbs' neck and felt for the pulse. He cursed himself when his friend's skin felt hot and sweaty; his pulse was strong and rapid. Kate appeared at the opposite door of the chopper, surprisingly having heard him. Ducky motioned for her to come in. She breathed out heavily and sat opposite Ducky.

Gibbs made an unintelligible sound, Ducky paused, he swore Gibbs had called for Kate.

"Kate!" Gibbs shouted and sat up, staring directly in-front of him. His breathing was fast and uneven; he turned to Ducky with confusion etched in his face. "Where's Kate?" he asked, grabbing Ducky by his shoulders.

"What do you want?" Kate demanded

"Kate" his voice cracked as he said her name

"Jethro, we need to get you to a hospital. You've developed a fever" Ducky interrupted them, noting Gibbs' sweat covered face

When Gibbs didn't reply, Ducky took one of his arms, indicating to Kate that she should take the other. Gibbs squinted at Kate as they helped him out of the chopper. Once they reached the solid ground, he focused his attention on walking. Ducky directed them towards a waiting ambulance, but Gibbs stopped walking, shaking his head. Ducky and Gibbs argued for a while, Ducky eventually gave up when he realised Gibbs wasn't going to budge from his position. He waved off the ambulance, and saw Abby walking towards them with a wheelchair.

"Thought you might need this for the boss-man" she explained

Ducky smiled and thanked her, "It never ceases to amaze me what you have kept over the years from cases, Abigail".

Abby brought the chair to stop in-front of Gibbs with a big smile on her face, "Right, in!" she commanded him

Gibbs raised his eyebrow and gave her a small smile before slowly lowering himself into the chair. Tony walked up behind the chair and took the handles, "Always wanted to push the boss around" he commented

"Watch your mouth, DiNozzo. I could stick you on desk duties for a month if I wanted to!" Gibbs responded as they began moving

Tony gulped, Ducky looked at Gibbs disapprovingly, "And I could do the same for you, Jethro"

Gibbs put his hands over the wheels to stop the chair and glared at Ducky.

"You are still recovering from a serious head injury and hyperthermia, and have now developed a fever" Ducky said, holding his ground "And you need rest"

"I have had enough rest!" Gibbs said evenly, "I don't need any more" he gave a push on the chairs wheels and headed back to NCIS.

They watched him leave and looked at each other.

"It's gonna be a long day" Tony commented

"Yeah, what's left of it" McGee responded

"Anthony, when does this bet of yours finish?" Ducky asked, "It might improve his mood if he has some coffee"

Tony looked at his watch, "Well, it's been six days, nine hours and four minutes, so that makes it…"

"…too long" Kate finished his sentence and walked off in the same direction as Gibbs

* * *

That's it for chapter 22... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	23. Chapter 23

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

When Tony and McGee entered the bullpen, Kate was nowhere to be seen and Gibbs was working at his desk. They went to their respective desks and began working. They worked in silence until the elevator dinged and Abby emerged with her usual sense of energy. She sauntered up to Gibbs' desk and stood in-front of it with a big smile on her face, waiting for him to look up.

"What is it Abby?" he asked, still focused on the computer in-front of him

She cleared her throat, "You know it's really rude to not look at somebody when they're talking to you" she replied

"But you're not talking" he pointed out, leaning back on his chair to look at her and putting his hands behind his head

"Well, I intend to" she responded

"Abby, did you come up here for a reason?" he asked

"Yep" she answered, and gave him a mug filled with a liquid he couldn't identify

He looked closer into the mug, "What is it?"

"I think Kate's right, you do need glasses" Abby said, ignoring his question.

He grumbled, "Abby! What is it?"

"Green tea. Should make you feel better in no time" she finally replied, "Now, drink up, or I'll have to tell Ducky he can send you to hospital"

He reached for the cup and took a sip, screwing up his face, "I'm not gonna drink this, Abby"

Abby placed her hands on her hips and scowled at him, "It's my own recipe, Gibbs. And it works"

Gibbs inwardly groaned and drained the cup of tea, scrunching up his face. He handed the cup to Abby and stared at a point on the desk to stop the tea from coming back up, breathing heavily.

"Good boy" Abby told him, "Give it a sec, it'll get better"

Looking up at Abby, he nodded and reclined in his chair. He wiped a layer of sweat from his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose. Abby watched him for a while, then left when she was satisfied that he would keep the tea down.

Kate walked into the bull-pen and sat at her desk.

"Where have you been?" Gibbs demanded

"Why do you care?" Kate asked in return

"Never answer a question with a question, Agent Todd" Gibbs stated, glaring at her

"Says who? Sometimes it's the only way to get answers!" Kate responded, meeting his glare in intensity

McGee audibly sighed, squinting and concentrating intensely at the screen in-front of him.

"Is there a problem, McGee!" Gibbs snapped, turning his frustration on the younger agent

"No, boss, it's something…" McGee said, gesturing to his screen

"Good, then get back to work!" Gibbs barked, interrupting him

McGee nodded, turning his attention back to his work and frowning.

Gibbs looked from McGee to Tony, noticing he was watching the scene unfold around him, "Don't you have work to do?"

"Yeah" Tony replied, glancing at Kate before looking back at his computer

"Ah, that might be a bad idea, boss" McGee said carefully

Gibbs looked back at McGee, "So, there is a problem?"

"No.. Er, actually yes, boss, but nothing I can't fix. I think the server has a virus and…"

"McGee, fix it!" Gibbs snapped. He stood up, stumbling backwards slightly and leaned on his desk for support. He briefly closed his eyes and slowly stood up properly, removing his hands from his desk and opening his eyes. Keeping his newly found balance, he walked to stand in-front of Kate's desk.

"Kate, we need to talk" Gibbs said

"Finally!" Tony remarked from his desk. Gibbs glared at him, "Right, I have work to do, on-it boss"

"I don't want to talk, Gibbs" Kate replied sharply, "Nothing to talk about"

Gibbs was about to reply, when Ducky made a timely arrival. Ducky looked between Gibbs and Kate, feeling the tension, "Is there anything I can help with?"

"No!" Kate and Gibbs replied in unison

"Yes!" Tony replied with them

"We're going to talk" Gibbs explained, ignoring Tony's comment

"No, we're not" Kate responded

Ducky sighed, exasperated, "Unfortunately, Caitlin, I'm inclined to agree with Jethro. You can borrow autopsy to talk privately"

Gibbs looked to Kate, "Shall we?" he asked, offering her his hand

She shook away his hand and stood up, "Fine" she muttered under her breath and led the way to the elevator

* * *

Abby, who had walked into the bullpen slightly after Ducky, turned to the three men who watched as the doors to the elevator closed.

"Oh, he is so in for it!" she exclaimed

"Absolutely" Tony agreed

McGee had a smug smile on his face, "Okay, pay up. Where's my $20?"

Abby turned around to face McGee, "Not so fast McGeek, it isn't over till the fat lady sings", she looked back to the elevator with a smile, "They are so gonna hook up"

McGee's expression turned confused, "What? How do you know?" he asked, skeptically

"I'll raise you another 20" Abby replied

"You guys are betting on whether or not they'll get together?" Tony asked looking between the two of them

"Yep, and I'm gonna win" Abby said, bouncing forward onto her toes, "You want in?"

Tony paused, thoughtfully, thinking back to yesterday's events, "No, that's low"

"Tony, you bet on things all the time" McGee responded

"Yes I do probie. But you have to draw the line somewhere," Tony gestured to the elevator, "They're Kate and Gibbs. I'm not gonna place a bet on them getting together, not going to put a bet on them, they are our collegues."

"Are you saying that you're not going to bet on them because we work with them? You betted that Gibbs couldn't go a week without coffee" McGee replied

"And you're gonna lose" Abby said

Tony grumbled, looking slightly hurt, "I need coffee" he said as he walked away

"Timothy, I don't believe that was wise" Ducky said

"What?" McGee asked, genuinely confused

"Bringing up the bet over coffee" Ducky replied, "He believes that it's his fault Gibbs went MIA and was injured"

"Why?" Abby asked

Ducky sighed, "He thinks Jethro was not on top of his game, and didn't react quickly enough because of the bet"

Abby and McGee exchanged glances. "But boss-man wouldn't have let something like that get the better of him; he would have seen it coming. And from the bruises on his knuckles, he fought back. If he hadn't known, Brown would have just…" Abby stopped as she searched for the right-word

"I know Abigail, but Anthony doesn't see it that way." Ducky interrupted, putting his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll speak to him"

Abby nodded. McGee's face lit up as his computer beeped and he went to his desk. "Abby, I think I caught the hacker"

"What hacker?" Ducky asked, "Does Jethro know?"

"Ok, to answer your first question first, the reason the system has been screwing up over the last few days is because there was a hacker, somehow they managed to get in when the systems were down from the black-out. And secondly, no, Gibbs doesn't know" Abby replied

"Mmm, Abs, could you help out, the guy is good, already bypassed 2 of our traps, got passed a dozen fire-walls…" McGee asked

Ducky watched as McGee and Abby stared at his computer, typing frantically and exchanging techno-babble, and decided to go find Tony.

* * *

That's it for chapter 23... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	24. Chapter 24

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Btw, I will be heading off to New Zealand tomorrow, but don't worry, I'll try to update my fic as much as possible.

And of course, again a gigantic thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

"Okay, talk to me" Gibbs said as the doors of autopsy closed behind them 

"You're the one who wanted to talk, Gibbs, not me" Kate responded

"What I meant by talking, was to have a conversation. You can't have a conversation with only one person talking" Gibbs stated

"Except for Ducky" Kate said lightly

Gibbs smirked, "Yeah, well he's the exception to the rule" Gibbs paused and looked at Kate thoughtfully, "So, what's on your mind, Todd?"

The hard look returned to Kate's eyes, "My arrogant, egotistical, frustrating, bastard of a boss" Kate replied

For a second, Gibbs looked slightly surprised, but regained his composure, "Why?"

Kate rolled her eyes, "Take a guess. What does your gut tell you?"

He let out a breath and hoisted himself onto one of the autopsy tables, "Ducky and Tony think you were worried about me, on the ship"

"We all were" Kate responded, "And then we saw you have a cardiac arrest, we saw you almost die. No prizes for figuring out why we were worried"

"You didn't need to be" he said

"And that's the other thing, you act like it was nothing, like you're invincible and nothing will ever hurt you. Bloody hell, Gibbs," Kate said, walking around to stand in-front of him, "We had every right to be worried"

He gave her a small smile and brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, "They said, that you cried for me", it was more of a question than a statement

"Yeah" she replied, returning the small smile and putting her hand over his

"So, you didn't answer my question before, where did you disappear to when we got back?" he asked, lowering his hand

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kate responded, teasingly

"Yeah, actually I would" Gibbs said

Before Kate had the chance to respond, her cell rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen, giving a 'hmmph'.

"You gonna answer that?" Gibbs asked

"No, it's a message, Gibbs" Kate replied.

Gibbs frowned, but didn't say anything, instead watched as Kate flipped open the phone and read it. Kate raised her eyebrows, looking surprised, then narrowed her eyes and flipped the phone closed. Gibbs looked at her expectantly, "A lead on the case?"

Kate rolled her eyes, "No, it's from Shane. He wants to take me to dinner tomorrow night at 'The Goldsmith'"

Gibbs grumbled, "Didn't he take the hint. What's wrong with this guy? He stupid?"

Kate looked at Gibbs, shocked, her mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide, she recovered and stated matter-of-factly, "No, he's not stupid, actually quite smart, he's an engineer"

"Doesn't mean he can't be less than intelligent, Kate." Gibbs replied and lost himself in thought, "What time did he want to meet you?"

"Around eight. Why?" she asked, her eyes narrowing

"Right, we're gonna teach him a lesson. I'll get us in there at seven thirty" Gibbs finally replied

"Ah, Gibbs, I said the 'Goldsmith', you have to book at least three months in advance, it's one of the city's most…" Kate said

"Not a problem, Kate, let me handle it" Gibbs replied, "I'll let you go home early and then pick you up at seven"

"You want to take me to dinner, Gibbs?" Kate asked, "Are we gonna class this as a date?"

Gibbs frowned and slid off the table, "Uh, no, not a date. Think of it as," he paused, trying to choose the right words. He was about to continue when he remembered his conversation back on the ship with Tony and Ducky, "Ah, actually, you can class it as whatever you like"

Kate raised an eyebrow, "What about rule 12?"

"Whoa, hang on a second honey, rule 12 refers to romances between agents, this is just a date" Gibbs replied, keeping a straight face

Kate raised her other eyebrow, "So it is a date?"

Gibbs sighed and looked at the ground, uncomfortable with the situation, "I guess" he looked back at Kate, "But we need to be straight about why we are going on this _date_. I don't want that creep harassing you; I want him to back-off. Stop stalking you"

"Stalking me? Gibbs, he's not stalking me", Gibbs simply shrugged but kept the blunt look on his face.

They stood facing each other in silence for a while, before Gibbs suggested that they should go back to the bullpen and do some work. They moved to the elevator and waited for it to come down.

Kate smirked and turned to Gibbs, "Honey?"

"What!" Gibbs asked, turning to her surprised

"You called me honey, just before" Kate explained

The elevator dinged and they stepped in and faced each other, "I didn't call you honey" he said ridiculously

"Yes you did. When I asked about rule 12" Kate responded

"No I didn't" he said, turning to face the doors and watching as the numbers went up

"Yeah, you did. Don't you remember?" she asked. Gibbs shook his head, "Gibbs, you're memory is failing, you're getting old"

Gibbs turned around and raised an eye-brow at her before turning back to the doors, "My memory is fine, and I didn't call you honey"

The doors of the elevator opened and they walked out, "Did" Kate responded

"Didn't"

"Did"

"Didn't" Gibbs said as they entered the bull-pen. McGee and Abby were at McGee's desk, typing frantically. Tony was nowhere to be seen

"Did" Kate whispered into his ear

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her, his mouth in a straight line, but his eyes were smiling, "Don't you have work to do?"

As Kate walked back to her desk, she could have sworn she heard Gibbs mutter under his breath, _didn't_. She smiled and sat down. They worked in silence for some time; the only sound in the bull-pen was that of typing and occasional techno-babble from Abby and McGee.

"Shit!" Abby and McGee said in unison, Abby hit the desk and glared at McGee. Causing Gibbs and Kate looked up from their desks

"You let him get away!" she accused him

"What? _I_ let him get away? What were you doing?" McGee asked

Abby grumbled, "Are you blaming me? McGeek?"

"Is there a problem?" Gibbs asked, looking over his desk at them

"No!" they snapped in unison again. Gibbs narrowed his eyes and got up.

"Well, I didn't let him get away" McGee accused Abby

"You didn't let who get away with what?" Gibbs asked

"Ah, nothing boss" McGee replied.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at the younger man, "Why are you doing nothing?" he looked at Abby, "Abs, what's going on?"

"McGeek let the hacker get away" she told him, tightly

"No I didn't" McGee replied, "I was…"

"Don't wanna hear it McGee" Gibbs interrupted, "What hacker? And why wasn't I told?"

"There's a guy hacking into the system ever since the power-outage, you weren't told cause you were in no condition" Abby replied

"Find him" Gibbs responded, before walking back to his desk

"Oh, don't worry boss-man, _I_ will" Abby replied, glaring at McGee before stalking off

"Ah, what about me, boss?" McGee asked

"Find Brown" Gibbs replied, not looking up

* * *

The three agents worked in relative silence for a while, occasionally asking each other questions to do with the case. They heard the elevator ding and watched as Tony got out, followed closely by Ducky. 

"Where have you been?" Gibbs asked

Ducky looked at Gibbs, grimly and shook his head.

"I needed some personal time, boss" Tony muttered, heading to his desk

Gibbs nodded and looked back to Ducky.

"I'm going to the hospital to see how PO Burns is doing" Ducky told him

"Ok" Gibbs replied as Ducky left the bullpen

Gibbs' cell rang; he sighed and picked it up.

"Gibbs" he barked into the cell

The agents looked over at Gibbs and watched his face, trying to figure out what the phone call was about, hoping it wasn't another body.

"Yes, I'm over 21" Gibbs said into the cell, frowning. The three agents began chuckling, wondering what the conversation was about

"Do you mean currently?" Gibbs asked, "No…I've been divorced three times, who is this?... No kids, don't want 'em. Who is this? No, who is this?" Gibbs looked at McGee and gave him the signal to trace the call.

"No, don't want to move. I'm quite happy where I am" Gibbs opened his mouth to respond, but instead closed it and hung up

"Damn tele-marketing people!" he grumbled

"You want me to continue the trace, boss?" McGee asked

"Yeah, you could find out what country they're really calling from. What did he sound like he was, boss?" Tony asked

"What?" Gibbs asked

"Did he sound Indian, Chinese?" Tony asked

"Indian" Gibbs replied, looking over his desk at Tony, "And he, was a she, Tony"

"Oh" Tony said, "You still gonna do the trace?"

"Nope. Not interested where they call from or why." Gibbs replied, muttering under his breath "Just wish they'd leave me alone" then said a bit louder, "Alright, back to work everybody"

Gibbs cell rang again, making the agents turn back to Gibbs. He narrowed his eyes, "Gibbs!" he snapped, snatching open the offending object.

Tony and Kate watched as Gibbs' expression turned from angry, to confused, then to slightly amused. He flipped the phone closed and turned to his agents, still smirking.

"You want to tell us what's so funny?" Tony asked, in spite of himself

Gibbs gave a small smile, "That was a 'Captain Spiggs' from the local PD. Apparently somebody reported me missing"

"Who?" Kate asked, frowning

Gibbs' smile broadened " 'Liv Jones" he replied smugly, "Manager of our local star-bucks"

Kate looked at Tony in disbelief, then back to Gibbs. "They reported you missing?" McGee asked

"You should really go over there and tell them you're okay, boss, or at least that you're still alive," Tony said, knowing Gibbs wouldn't be able to resist buying a coffee, "..Barely"

Gibbs swatted Tony's head. "He's right, Gibbs. They're concerned; it's not like you to not come in for a week"

"6 and a half days, Kate" Tony corrected

"Whatever. I'll come with you, I need a coffee." Kate said

* * *

That's it for chapter 24... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	25. Chapter 25

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her fantastic inspiration and great work!

* * *

Kate and Gibbs walked into star-bucks. Gibbs paused in the doorway and breathed in the rich aroma of the coffee, a small smile appearing on his face. They stopped at the back of the shop, as Kate looked up at the menu and tried to decide what coffee to have. Gibbs looked at the young woman behind the counter, not recognizing her face, she looked slightly restless.

"First day?" he asked, strolling to the counter

"No, second" she replied

Gibbs smiled and nodded. "Where's Liv?" he asked, frowning

"She was taken to hospital, something about high blood pressure caused by a high amount of stress" the young woman replied, also frowning

"Which was caused by you. Where the hell have you been, Jethro?" a young woman with red hair said, walking up behind Gibbs and Kate

"Jenny," Gibbs replied, smiling again, "Good to see you"

Kate looked the red head up and down, the young woman was pretty. She looked back to the smile on her boss' face and without knowing why, began to feel slightly jealous.

"We were worried sick about you. Liv thought you might have been dead…" Jenny said

"Yeah, I got that much. I got a phone call from the police earlier, said I'd been reported missing and were about to send out a search-and-rescue party" Gibbs interrupted

"Well, we sent out flyers to anybody who walked in the door, were going to tape them to street lamps as well" Jenny continued

"Actually, that hasn't been done yet. The printer ran out of ink" another woman said walking up. "Jethro," she said, walking up to Gibbs and giving him a big hug, "Don't do that to us again", she stepped back, holding him at arms length and smiled, "Or we'll have to sue you"

"Hey, sweetheart." Gibbs said. Kate felt her heart constrict, "Sue me?" Gibbs asked, smiling as well and frowning a little

"Yeah, for damages" the woman replied, stepping back

"What damages, Karen?" Gibbs asked again, folding his arms

"Financial ones. Did you know our revenue has gone down 7 since you went missing?" she asked, still smiling

"No, I didn't. And I wasn't missing" he replied, "Wow, 7, that's a lot of coffee" he said, mussing

"Speaking of coffee. Would you like a cup?" Jenny asked, stepping around the counter

"No, can't. But Kate does" he said, looking towards Kate

Before Kate could say anything, Jenny asked, "Kate? _The_ Kate? Pleased to meet you" she said holding out her hand

Kate shook her hand, thoroughly confused at her reaction.

"Wow, so you're Kate" Karen said, beaming at her, "He talks about you all the time"

Gibbs glared at Karen.

"What! You do" Karen said

"I also talk about my other team members" Gibbs reasoned

"Yeah, but you talk about Kate the most" Jenny taunted

"I wanna meet McGee, he sounds cute" the new girl behind the counter said. Kate and Gibbs looked at each other, stunned.

"McGee!" Kate asked, then laughed, "Whatever takes your fancy"

"What? Karen told me he did MIT. I just started there" she replied defensively

"Oh my God, Jet, you're back!" another young woman, looking to be in her early twenties with jet black her exclaimed, running up and jumping into Gibbs' arms. Gibbs stepped back as he took on her weight, then slowly put her back on the ground

He gave a small laugh, "Melissa. How have you been?"

She gave his arm a small slap, "I should be asking you that. Where the hell have you been? Why haven't you called?"

Gibbs took a step backwards and held up his hands in mock-defense, "Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I'll call next time"

"You better" Melissa threatened, "or else"

"Melissa, meet Kate. Her and Jethro came in for a coffee" Jenny said from behind the counter

"You're Kate!" Melissa exclaimed. Kate nodded. Melissa came up and gave Kate a big hug, then stepped back, "Jet talks about you all the time". Melissa laughed, ducking as Gibbs tried to slap her over the back of her head, "You're getting old"

"You're only as old as you feel" Gibbs replied

"Hey, that's my line. Anyways, you're going grey" Melissa said

"That's not grey, it's silver. And it's all of you that give me that colour" he replied

Melissa looked at Kate in her eyes, "You know, speaking of hair colour, Jet thinks you should dye your hair red" she watched as Kate blushed and Gibbs glared at her, then smiling waved her hand back and forth between Kate and Gibbs, "So, have you two kissed yet?" she said, turning to Kate, "He is so totally in love with you". Gibbs tried to slap her over her head again, but she ran behind the counter, giggling.

"Yeah, there is definitely a lot of tension between you two" Karen said

"I'd call it chemistry, actually" Jenny responded

"Yeah. You know, unresolved sexual issues…not a good thing to work with" Karen continued. Gibbs glared at her, "Oh, come on Jethro, you're acting like a shy, embarrassed teenager. Admit it, that you like her" Karen said, her eyes flicking to Kate

"So, anyway, we came in here to get coffee" Gibbs tried to change the topic, earning him a glare from the coffee attendants, "Kate?"

"Just a latte thanks" Kate replied

Jenny made the coffee then put it down on the counter, whilst Kate went to find the money in her purse; Jenny made another coffee and put it beside the latte. When she saw Kate trying to pay for the coffee, she interjected, "Oh, no, this one's on the house"

Gibbs frowned at the second cup. "That one's for you, my darling" Jenny explained

He shook his head, his face falling, "Can't" he said simply

Kate looked at his face, then smiled as a thought hit her, she leaned into his ear and said softly, "You know, Tony could always use that extra week off. It'd be just you and me at the office", she leaned back to gauge his reaction

He looked at her thoughtfully, cocking his head to the side, "Yeah, and McGee" he pointed out, "Besides, I want that bottle of Jack"

"You can have mine, we both know I wont drink it" Kate said, "And McGee, well," she paused, thinking, "He hasn't looked well these past couple of days, perhaps he should have some time off" she smiled

He returned the smile, "Yeah, he looked really green on the ship. I'll get Ducky to take a look at him" he turned to the girls behind the bar, "The usual, thanks"

"One step ahead of you, Agent Gibbs" Jenny replied

As they closed the door behind them, once they were outside, Kate looked at Gibbs, "Never thought you'd have the chance to tell them much about your life"

He turned to look at her, "I spend more time in that coffee shop than I'm prepared to admit, Kate. They're the first and last people I see everyday" he said

"We're gonna have to change that" Kate said suggestively, keeping her eyes straight ahead as she felt him stare at her

* * *

That's it for chapter 25... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	26. Chapter 26

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a gigantic thank-you to Kate for her fantastic work and great inspiration!

This one is a bit longer than the other chapters; hopefully it doesn't seem like I'm rambling too much

* * *

"What are you staring at, Probie?" Tony asked, not looking up

"Ah, nothing, just thinking" McGee replied quickly

"About?" Tony asked, feigning curiosity

"Nothing" McGee replied, looking back at his computer and started typing a bit

Tony looked up and frowned, "You're thinking about nothing? Do that a lot, Probie?"

"Mmm, yes.. I mean, no" McGee replied, then sighed and looked back at Tony, "You know, it wasn't your fault, Tony"

"'bout what?"

"Gibbs getting injured in the line of duty. The lack of coffee wouldn't have made any difference" McGee replied

"Don't know what you're talking about, Probie" Tony responded, looking back to his computer

"Yes you do, you blame yourself for…" McGee started

"Drop it, McGee!" Tony snapped. "I don't wanna talk about it!"

"Well, you should, it would be better for…"

Tony hit his desk with his hand, cutting McGee off, "Dammit McGee! I said drop it! Now, get back to work!"

Tony continued to glare at McGee until he turned back to his computer and started typing again

* * *

The elevator dinged, breaking the silence in the bull-pen, Tony looked up as Gibbs and Kate approached with smiles on their faces. Tony narrowed his eyes before looking back at his screen.

"So, what have you got for me, boys?" Gibbs asked

"Not a lot, Brown's only living relatives are in California, but his relationships with them weren't very good" Tony replied

"Not a lot on this end either, still having trouble getting his financial records. I spoke with a few people who trained with him at NROTC, but nobody knew him much, kept to himself" McGee said

"Right, I want those records McGee. Kate, continue looking through the list, see if there is anybody he might contact and/or stay with, I also want you to prepare a profile for him. I wanna find this guy" Gibbs said, rattling out orders

"What about me, boss?" Tony asked

"You're with me, DiNozzo" Gibbs replied, walking back to the elevator

Tony got up and followed Gibbs. They got to the elevator as it was opening to let some other people out, Tony recognized them and smiled, briefly saying hello to them.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs called, getting into the elevator

Tony got into the elevator and stood behind Gibbs. As the door closed, Tony smiled, "So, when do I get my week off, boss?"

Gibbs turned around, "What!"

"You had coffee"

"What makes you think that?"

"Firstly, you're happy. Secondly," Tony put his hands on Gibbs' shoulders, putting them at arms length. Tony tilted his head and smiled again, "You smell like coffee"

"I didn't have one" Gibbs said, denying it

"I can smell it on your breath. You had it slightly stronger than usual" Tony responded, dropping his arms, "So, feel better?"

The elevator stopped at their level and they got out. Gibbs grinned and cocked his head to the side, studying Tony, "Yeah, much"

"Good" Tony said as they walked into the lab

"Abs, got the hacker yet?" Gibbs asked after turning down the music

"Boss-man! What? No caff-Pow?" Abby asked, then sighed, resuming her normal, happy self, "Ok, not yet. But I've set like, a hundred traps, so that as soon as he rears his ugly head," she clapped her hands together, "he's a goner"

"And in the meantime?"

"Well, I've tried back-tracing it, but haven't turned up anything. He used some pretty sophisticated stuff; he knows what he's doing. It's just a pity we don't know what he's looking for, cause then I'd have more idea where to…" Abby said, descending into more techno-babble

"Abby!" Gibbs pleaded

"Right, so anyway, we should be able to get him" Abby finished. She looked at Gibbs and slightly tilted her head to the side, studying him "You look like you've had coffee"

Tony smirked, "You noticed as well?"

"How could I not? How long ago did you have it?" Abby responded

"Half an hour ago" Gibbs replied, "It's not that obvious is it? I mean, it's only coffee"

"And you're only addicted" Abby replied

"And yeah, it's that obvious. You look better already" Tony told him, when Gibbs glared at him, he added, "Not that you didn't look good anyway, boss"

Gibbs slapped him over the back of his head

"You know, one day you're going to give me a concussion from doing that" Tony said, rubbing his head

Abby narrowed her eyes as she looked back and forth between Gibbs and Tony, then turned to Gibbs, "So, did you learn anything?"

"Yeah, Tony thinks I look good" Gibbs replied, smirking, as Tony blushed and tried to deny it, but Abby interrupted him

"No, I mean from going without coffee for a week"

"Six and a half days, Abs" Tony corrected her

"Not really" Gibbs replied

"So you're denying that you are addicted to coffee?" Abby asked

Gibbs thought about it for a second, "No, not denying it"

Abby smiled, "I know somebody who can help you quit, and I'm sure the director would let you have some time off…"

Gibbs held up his hand, "I don't want to quit. Why would I? Coffee is the best stuff in the world, and as long as I continue drinking it, it doesn't affect my work"

"I believe that is a wise idea, Jethro" Ducky said, walking into the lab

"What, continuing to drink coffee?" Tony asked

"Yes." Ducky replied, "When you were in the hospital wing on the ship, I had one of the doctors run some blood tests for me. I'm not sure how to say this without confusing you too much, but the tests revealed that you're health deteriorated quite a lot due to the lack of coffee. But it was hardly surprising seeing as you've been drinking it every day for longer than 22 years"

* * *

Gibbs stifled a yawn and leaned back into his chair, staring at his screen as it came in and out of focus. He looked over his desk at his three agents who were still working diligently, but looked over-tired. He knew they had all been worried about him whilst he was missing and then even more so when he had been found, and although he would never admit it to them, he appreciated their concern. His eyes rested on Tony and he frowned, not because he knew the younger man was playing a game when he was supposed to be working, but because he knew that Tony had blamed himself for what had happened, he'd have to talk to him later. Gibbs thought back to the events earlier in the day, and wondered what was up with Tony, he knew the younger man was not himself and had been acting strangely of late. Glancing at McGee, he remembered that he had to remind Tony to take McGee shopping for a new car; he didn't want him catching buses anymore.

Gibbs cocked his head to the side and studied the man, "McGee, do you have a driver's licence?"

McGee looked up and blushed, "I let it expire. Been without one since day before yesterday"

Gibbs nodded, "You're gonna have to get one of those as well"

McGee frowned, "As well?"

"Yes, McGee, as well as a car" Gibbs replied

"You were serious about that?" McGee asked

Tony groaned, "Of course he was, Probie. Does he look like he was joking?"

McGee looked back to Gibbs and sighed, shaking his head

"Any luck getting Brown's financial records?" Gibbs asked, squinting as he looked back to his screen

"Yeah, but it's complete. It has transactions that are missing, at one point; there are no deposits or withdrawals for six months, that's including bank fees. Either somebody deleted them or I haven't been able to retrieve the whole record" McGee replied

"Why not?" Gibbs asked, "Something to do with the hacker?"

"Could be" McGee paused, thinking, "I might be able to find out if I go to Abby's lab"

"Why would a hacker stop us from accessing Brown's records?" Kate asked, frowning.

There was a moment of silence, which was broken when Tony's eyes lit up and he held up a finger, "Hang-on, what if the hacker was Brown? It would explain a lot, we've had this hacker, for how long? Since a couple of days after we got the case? Maybe he was checking up on us; see if we thought it was him"

"McGee, go help Abby. And try to find those records" Gibbs said

"Well, if you can't get them through the net, you could always try for the hard copy at the bank" Tony suggested, then seeing the look on Gibbs' face, "They're closed at the moment, be open at nine tomorrow"

"Right, I want you there at 0845. For now, we'll have to try the internet. Kate, you got anything?" Gibbs asked

"No, any close friends of his are dead, missing or uncontactable. You've already spoken to his parents. And he was never in the same place long enough to get to know the neighbours or anything" Kate replied, looking at the screen, "Except for somebody who went to chef's school with him, but he's away in Sweden at the moment, studying chocolate"

Gibbs and Tony raised their eyebrows, "Chocolate?" Tony asked

Gibbs shook his head, "Why?" he asked, ridiculously

"Some people like things other than coffee and boats, Gibbs" Kate replied

Gibbs frowned and shook his head again, "The more I know, the less I understand"

"What is there not to understand? Chocolate is great" Tony said

"You would study it, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked

Tony frowned and shook his head, "Point taken"

"I'm just getting started on his profile now" Kate told Gibbs, before he could ask.

Gibbs nodded and looked back at his computer. He grumbled under his breath and looked back to his agents, making sure they weren't watching. Opening one of the draws in his desk, he took out his glasses and put them on. He grumbled again as the words came into focus, and went back to his work. Half an hour later, he put the glasses back, determined that he didn't need them.

* * *

That's it for chapter 26... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	27. Chapter 27

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a gigantic thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

A big hello from Auckland, I'm having lots of fun over here. This chapter is a lot shorter than the others, but hopefully the others will make up for it

* * *

Tony yawned and looked at the clock and frowned as he saw that it read five past three. It must have stopped. He looked back to the clock on his computer, nine thirty two; he looked up to Gibbs, wondering when he would let them leave. Sighing, he looked back to his screen and frowned. The cabin he'd thought he'd bought somewhere on the border of Idaho, near Lewiston and Moscow, had been sold. He banged his desk in frustration and stared at the space between his desk and the wall opposite him. 

"Something wrong DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, looking up

"No, boss. Just venting some frustration" he replied

Gibbs raised his eyebrows, "At what?"

Tony frowned, "At how slow my computer is"

Gibbs nodded in agreement and looked back at his own computer, then got up and headed for the elevator, probably for more coffee.

Tony silently swore, looking back to the screen in-front of him. He was sure that he'd got the property, nobody else had seemed interested and that was only a week and a half ago. He cursed again, blaming the case for his bad-luck. He'd been looking to spending some time off, some much-needed personal time and he'd found a great place to stay. But not anymore, somebody else had bought it. Tony stared at his computer for a while, before getting back to the search he was supposed to be doing.

The ding of the elevator broke the silence, making Tony look up as Gibbs came out. Gibbs walked into the bull-pen and told them to go home, there wasn't anything else to do until the following day. Tony breathed a sigh in relief and collected his stuff.

"Ah, boss? Could I get a lift home, my car is still screwed and so is the courtesy car." He asked as he turned off his light

"Ah, I'm going to stay a bit longer, you could get a lift from Abby, she taking McGee home as well" Gibbs replied, going back to his desk

"I can't work out their relationship, it's weird" Tony said, frowning

"Why? Because it's not like any of yours?" Kate asked

Tony smiled, "You have no idea…"

* * *

Kate looked up at the clock, almost midnight. Everybody else in the office had left for the night; even the cleaners had been and gone, just leaving Gibbs and herself. She yawned and looked over at her boss. He looked tired, but better than before, at least he'd had some coffee and his color was now returning. She looked back at her paperwork, the black was running into the white, making it hard to see the words and make out the sentences. She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. 

"Gibbs, could you send me Abby's notes?" she asked, determined to get the majority of paperwork out of the way tonight.

"Ah, yep." He replied, squinting at the screen

Kate smiled, "You need glasses" she called over to him

"Nope. I'm fine, a bit tired though" he called back, not taking his eyes of his screen. "Okay, done" he said, leaning back and carrying on with his own paperwork

She heard the beep of the message received and opened the file. She picked up the coffee cup on her desk and took a gulp, she screwed up her face, her coffee had gone cold. She looked back at the screen and froze; she felt her cheeks begin to burn. She looked back to Gibbs, unaware that her mouth had fallen open; she looked back at the picture on the screen, then back to Gibbs. She was going to kill Tony in the morning, but now, she had to deal with her boss.

"Something wrong, Kate?" Gibbs asked, not looking up

Kate looked back to Gibbs, opening her mouth a couple of times, then closing it. "I …I didn't know you kept this" she eventually got out

Gibbs frowned and looked over at her, "Kept what?" he asked

Kate cleared her throat, "NCIS, special agent of the month" Kate replied

Kate watched Gibbs' reaction, surprised that he actually turned red, embarrassed, that was a new reaction for the man. He couldn't believe that he'd just sent her the wet T-shirt picture. He'd put the image under a different file name, one relating to work, so that if anybody looked through his computer, which wouldn't have been hard – he didn't have a password on it, they would only have found things relating to his cases. Gibbs closed his eyes and rubbed his face with both hands, then looked back at Kate, who had an unreadable expression on her face. "I, uh… meant to delete that" he explained

"So why didn't you?" she asked, frowning, but she didn't sound angry, or even annoyed, more curious.

Gibbs tried to read her face, but failed. He sighed, "Because I thought…" he stumbled, then tried again, "I thought you looked …" he stopped again and looked at her, frowning, then shrugged his shoulders, sighing again. "I need coffee" he said, getting up and walking to the office tearoom

"I thought you said that wasn't coffee, that you wouldn't drink the sludge they called coffee" Kate said

"Special times call for special measures" he called back, without looking back

* * *

That's it for chapter 27... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	28. Chapter 28

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

Sorry for the delay, was busy and had trouble getting to an internet cafe. This is another short chapter…

* * *

Gibbs continued sanding his boat, hopping the person persistently knocking on his door would go away. He sighed, no such luck. He put down his sander and made his way up the stairs from his basement, thinking of a dozen remarks he could say to this person to make them leave in a hurry. He opened the door and stopped, slightly taken back as the last person he expected to be standing at his door was there. 

"What are you doing here?" he asked her. Kate was standing in the rain, carrying a bag; he couldn't quite make out what was in it though.

"Are you gonna let me in? Or just stand out here getting wet?" she asked

He bit back a smile, thinking of the wet T-shirt picture, but stepped back to let her in. He closed the door after her and looked at her expectantly.

She sighed and handed over the plastic bag, "They're lollies. Coffee lollies," she explained as he peered inside, "So you can have one whenever you need a caffeine fix, don't want you going through withdrawals again"

He nodded and put the bag in the kitchen. "You could've given me these tomorrow" he stated, looking back at Kate.

"Yeah, well I wanted to know why you kept that picture and was worried when you didn't return from the break-room" Kate said, giving nothing away

"You could have asked over the phone" he pointed out

"I wanted to talk to you face to face" Kate said, moving towards Gibbs

"So talk" he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the breakfast bar

"The picture?" she asked. Gibbs sighed and shook his head, turning away from her. "Okay," Kate said, when he said nothing, "we've heard all of your rules, all 13 of them." Gibbs turned to look at her, surprise in his eyes, "Yeah. All 13, even the one about taxi's" she said, "We'll I have a few of my own" Kate took a step towards Gibbs, "Rule 1: Never accept a bet from DiNozzo, no matter how good the reward seems. Rule 2: Never go anywhere without those." Kate tilted her head towards the breakfast bar, where Gibbs had put the bag of coffee lollies. "Rule 3: Get a password on your computer, anybody could go through your files" she took another step towards him, "Rule 4: Never save a personal file as a work document" she smiled as she said this, taking another step towards him, so that she was in his personal space. She looked up at him, "Rule 5: Never hold back your emotions when it comes to a co-worker, they may just feel the same way" she brushed her lips against his, but he pulled back

"No," he said and shook his head, "Rule 12"

She smiled, having already thought of this, "My rules trump yours. In the event of a conflict between one of my rules and any of yours, my rules prevail to the extent of the inconsistency"

"That so?" he asked, "That rule have a number?"

"Doesn't need a number" she answered, putting her arms around his neck

"How come your rules override mine?" he asked, placing his hands on her hips

"Because I saved your life" she answered, covering her 90. She remembered Tony telling her about a film in which Will Smith played Hitch, kind of a match-maker. Apparently when kissing, the first person covers 90 of the distance, with the other person covering the last 10.

"I'm not one to express my gratitude" Gibbs stated, leaning back, putting a bit a distance between them, "But," he said, leaning in again, "I think I can make an exception to my rules"

"What rule number is that?" Kate responded

"Fourteen"

"How many rules do you have?" she asked, each word, bringing their lips closer

"Fifteen"

"What's the last one?"

"I don't think I can say that one aloud"

"Why not?"

Gibbs smiled, "That's for me to know and you to find out"

They were so close now; they could feel each other's breath against their face. Gibbs, if possible, leaned closer and tilted his head, but was stopped when his cell rang. He pulled back and looked at Kate longingly, absently licking his lips as he looked at the caller id

"DiNozzo! This had better be the most important call of your life!" Gibbs said as he answered his cell

Gibbs frowned, sighing as he walked to his kitchen. "Right, we'll be there in 20" he said, hanging up. He turned back to Kate, "He thinks he found Brown"

"Well, if he hasn't, I'm gonna shoot him" Kate responded

"Not if I get to him first" said Gibbs

"Wanna make a bet?" taunted Kate

"I think I have had my fair share of bets for the time being, thank you Agent Todd"

"This time the challenge wouldn't be as hard and the reward might be more worthwhile"

* * *

That's it for chapter 28... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	29. Chapter 29

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

Warning: Mild slash

A very long chapter, I kinda got carried away…okay, i got hugely carried away...

* * *

Tony looked up at the elevator dinged and McGee walked out, yawning. He walked to his desk, dropping his bag and slumping into his seat and putting his head on the desk, "What time is it? And why are we here?" he croaked 

"Abby didn't tell you?" Tony asked, remembering that Abby had answered McGee's cell

"No, she told me to get changed and into the car, ASAP. Then she dropped me off here and told me to have fun and not piss-off 'boss-man'" McGee answered, closing his eyes

Tony smiled, "You're gonna have to look more alive than that when 'boss-man' does arrive, probie, don't know what I interrupted, but he sounded majorlly pissed off"

McGee opened one of his eyes and groaned, finally sitting up, and yawning again.

"So, what time is it?" McGee asked again

"Depends what clock you go by, the one on the wall says five past three. The one on my computer says," Tony paused and gave a 'humph', "Six past three"

McGee frowned, putting his head back on the desk, "You know, I saw that clock on the wall stop," he closed his eyes, "Thought I'd made time stop"

"I know you're up with technology and all, Probie, but making a clock stop just by staring as it is a bit too much, don't you think?"

McGee mumbled something and stifled another yawn. They both looked up as the elevator dinged and Kate and Gibbs walked out, each carrying two cups of coffee and looking equally annoyed. Tony narrowed his eyes at them, wondering why they had arrived together. They walked into the bullpen and Gibbs handed Tony one of the coffees whilst Kate gave McGee the other.

"This had better be good, DiNozzo" Gibbs said

"Oh, don't worry, it is, you're gonna love me" Tony responded

"I'm not worried" Gibbs said

"Good. Ok, so for the last couple of weeks I've been looking at some places in Idaho, places just to stay in, until I found this one cabin near Lewiston and Moscow. Anyway, I put an offer in to buy it, and it was higher than everybody else's bid…" Tony started

"This going anywhere, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, agitated

"Ah, yeah. Well, I thought I'd got the place, until yesterday, somebody had come in with a higher offer and the owner sold it. Then tonight, I was wondering why it was bugging me so much, the place was in the middle of nowhere and nobody else was interested. So, I looked up what amount the guy offered, he'd almost doubled mine, then I found the name of the guy, Antonio Baileys" Tony said, smiling

Gibbs and Kate exchanged frustrated glances, "Ok, I can see how you got his first name, but, Baileys?" Kate asked

"Yeah, it was his mum's maiden name" Tony replied

"Actually his mum's maiden name was Daly" McGee said, sitting up

"Right" Tony agreed, still smiling, "But you're wrong. Her surname was Baileys, before she married Mark Daly. They divorced but she kept his name, then she married Anthony's father David Brown. So when she got married to David, her name on the marriage certificate was Daly, not Baileys."

Kate frowned, "Isn't that a bit of a stretch?"

"A bit, that's why I looked up Antonio Baileys," Tony replied, pointing to the plasma as a picture came up, "When I found the picture, I did more of a work up on him and found a more complete financial record," Tony switched the picture on the plasma, showing the records, "Which show the last place he stayed, a hotel called 'The one stop inn', where he's been for the last day. I did more of a work up, but it's not very relevant". Tony changed the picture of the plasma again, to show a map, "And that's where the hotel is"

Gibbs nodded, "Good work. McGee can you download that to Kate's PDA?" he said as he walked back to the elevator, "I want you all at my car in 5, we're going for a road-trip"

* * *

Gibbs drove with McGee giving him directions from the back seat, whilst Tony played with the stereo, trying to get some music. 

"Boss, you're sound system is fubar" Tony told him as he turned off the stereo

"He doesn't have a sound system, Tony" Kate replied sleepily, from the back seat

"I do, it just doesn't work well" Gibbs replied, taking a sharp left, making everybody hang onto their seats

"It doesn't work at all, boss" Tony responded

"It does, it screeches. Perhaps you should come shopping with us when we go shopping for a car" McGee said

"I don't think so, Probie" Tony said

"Why not? It could be like, a boy's day out, a bit of male-bonding" Kate said

Tony snorted, then coughed to cover it up. Gibbs gave him a side-ways glance, before over taking a road-train.

"Yeah, we could make a day of it" McGee said optimistically

"I don't know if I could spend a whole day with you two" Gibbs stated

"Why? It's not like you don't do it all the time" Kate responded

"But that's at work, Kate," Gibbs responded, "Besides; I don't think the radio needs replacing"

"I do, it sounds like a fog horn" Kate said

"Never heard one of those…care to demonstrate Kate?" Tony asked

Gibbs smacked him over the back of his head, without taking his eyes off the road. "I like listening to the sound of the engine, Katie"

Tony rubbed the back of his head, and frowned, turning back to Gibbs as he realised he'd called Kate 'Katie'

"Katie? Is there a personal relationship going on here that I don't know about?" Tony asked, wriggling his eye-brows

"No!" Kate and Gibbs said in unison. Tony gave them his best charming smile and looked to McGee who was smirking

"What? Gibbs and Kate? Dunno Tony, I think that might be a long shot" McGee said

"It's possible, Probie, I think the coffee is affecting his brain" Tony said, studying Gibbs

"Are you two just gonna talk about us like we're not here?" Kate asked

"You hear something, Probie?" Tony asked

"Nope. But what about rule 12?" McGee responded

Tony's smile faded and he turned to look out the window. He rested his elbow on the arm rest and brought his arm up, chewing on the end of one of his fingers, "Yeah, what about rule 12?"

Gibbs glanced at Tony and frowned, wanting to ask if something was up, but missed his opportunity when McGee spoke again.

"Maybe his rules are subject to change at anytime without notice" McGee suggested

"Yeah, did I forget to mention that rule to you when I employed you?" Gibbs asked

Gibbs watched as the heads of Kate and McGee snapped to him, followed by a mixture of "Uh, yeah, boss/Gibbs". Gibbs smiled and tapped the steering wheel as he waited to overtake a convey of caravans.

Kate grinned, "Is that rule 15?"

"Nope. It's rule 16" Gibbs replied

Kate frowned, confused, "I thought you said there was only 15"

Tony looked lost, "Did I miss something?"

"Well, welcome back, DiNozzo" Kate said, "Gibbs just told us rule 16" she told him matter-of-factly

"16? What are 14 and 15?" Tony asked, confused, "And why weren't we told?"

"Because you weren't there, DiNozzo" Gibbs replied

"Well, I'm here now…care to explain?" Tony asked, slightly irritated

"No, not really" Gibbs replied, dropping down a gear to pass the caravans

Tony grumbled and turned back to stare out the window again

"He told us what rule 16 was though" McGee pointed out

"And what was that, Probie?" Tony asked, still looking out the window

"That his rules are subject to change at anytime without notice" McGee replied

"What!" Tony shouted

Gibbs winced. "Do you wanna say that any louder?" Kate asked

"So it cancels out rule 12?" Tony asked, excitedly

Gibbs glanced at Tony, frowning again, "Sometimes"

Tony laughed, "That's fantastic!"

"There's an agent you want to date?" Kate asked. The only response she got was Tony laughing again. "Honestly, Tony, why does that not surprise me? So, spill, what's her name?"

Tony blushed and said seriously, "That's on a need to know basis, Kate"

Gibbs watched Tony for a while, before saying, "Well, DiNozzo, _I_ need to know"

"No you don't" Tony responded, but after a look from Gibbs, said "Ah, you don't know them, boss"

"Try me" Gibbs said

Tony turned to look at Gibbs, squarely in his eye, "I'd really rather not"

"Gibbs, coffee!" McGee said, pointing to the side of the road, where a star-bucks was located

"Good idea. I need to stretch my legs" Kate responded, thinking of the journey which they were only three hours into, and much longer until they got to where they were going

"But the convey will pass us, and the road trains" Gibbs grumbled

"Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll pass them again, boss" Tony responded, "And I wanna get outta the car too", then said under his breath to himself, "Get away from you guys, breathing space"

"See, you're outnumbered three to one, majority wins, pull over" Kate demanded, "And you need coffee as well"

"I do?" Gibbs asked as he pulled into the parking lot, "Don't know about needing it, thought I'd proven that already"

"Well, yes and no" McGee answered

"Well, which is it McGee, yes or no?" Gibbs asked as he parked the car and applied the handbrake

"According to Ducky, no" McGee answered as Tony got out of the car and walked off

Gibbs groaned and got out of the car, Kate and McGee doing the same.

"I'll get the coffees" McGee said, wondering inside

Gibbs nodded and walked around the car to stand in-front of Kate. "What's up with Tony?" he asked

Kate shrugged, looking up at him, "He's been acting weird since you went missing"

Gibbs shook his head, "No, I think this has been going on longer. Any idea about the agent he's interested in pursuing a relationship with?"

She shook her head, "But I don't think you should push him about it. See if he can work through it himself"

"Yeah" he replied, "Let's go for a walk"

They walked off to a nearby park, Gibbs taking her hand as they walked. Passing a few benches that didn't look stable enough to sit on; they entered the playground and sat on the swings. Kate smiled as she sat down and looked at the big tree just off to the side of the playground. She stood up again and approached the tree, feeling Gibbs' eyes follow her. She reached out and touched the trunk of the tree, noticing the colour of the bark and the sap that clung to one of the branches.

"So, are you gonna hug it?" she heard Gibbs' voice call out from the swings

Running her hands along the bark and up to the first branch, she tightened her grip and hoisted herself up onto the branch, to straddle it. "So, Jethro, how long has it been since you climbed a tree?" she called

"Not long enough" came Gibbs' voice from beneath her

She looked down to find that he'd somehow moved from the swings to over here without her noticing.

"You gonna give me room to get up, Agent Todd?" he asked

Kate smiled and continued climbing, looking back in time to see Gibbs lift himself to the first branch. They climbed until they found a spot half-way up the tree where they could both sit comfortably.

"Ah, boss, I don't think that's a wise idea" McGee's voice came from the bottom of the tree, "I don't think Ducky had this in mind when he said you have to take it steady"

"Got my coffee, McGee?" Gibbs called down

"Yeah" McGee replied

"Well, are you going to bring it up to us?" Kate asked

"No. If you want it, you're gonna have to come down" McGee responded

"Ah, don't spoil their fun, Probie. I'll take it up" Tony's voice came floating up to them. They heard him puff them ask McGee for their coffees. A few minutes later they saw Tony's head appear a few branches beneath them.

"So, you decided to join us, DiNozzo" Gibbs stated

"Yeah," Tony replied, climbing to the next branch, so they were almost level, "You're coffees" he said, holding out the cup holder, taking one of the cups.

Tony sat down and took a sip of the coffee and screwed up his face, "I think that one's yours, boss"

Tony and Gibbs exchanged coffees and fell into silence. Tony rubbed his face with his free hand and looked at Gibbs, "Were you serious?" he asked. Gibbs frowned and Tony decided to clarify, "About um, rule 16 overruling rule 12?"

Gibbs took another sip of his coffee and looked over the brim of the cup, squinting at Tony as the sun began to rise and shone in his eyes, "I said it depends"

"On what?" Tony asked

"I want to know who" Gibbs stated

Tony swore and looked away, "Why can't you just respect my wishes? That I don't want to tell you who"

"Why not?" Gibbs asked, "I can tell you who to avoid, some of them are great agents, but in relationships…"

"Gibbs!" Kate glared at him

Gibbs sighed and held out his hands in surrender "Okay, then my answer is no, rule 12 still applies. I don't want you getting hurt"

"You're such a bastard!" Tony said under his breath, looking down at his coffee

"Never pretended not to be" Gibbs responded

Tony looked back up, "Fine, well, I'm going to resign. I'll have my resignation on your desk when we get back. My two weeks notice is effective immediately"

"What!" Gibbs almost shouted. Kate's eyes widened and her mouth dropped in shock. "Like hell you are! I'm not accepting your resignation! Tell me who the goddamn agent is!"

Tony sighed and looked down, biting down on his lower lip until he could taste blood, "Ah, Agent…" Tony paused and stared off into the distance. He didn't notice as his hand loosened on the coffee cup, letting it fall to the ground. "Agent, um…" Tony squinted at a spot behind Kate and Gibbs, feeling his face burning.

"Spit it out, Tony!" Gibbs snapped

Tony's eyes focused back on Gibbs, and almost lost his balance, his hand quickly shooting to the nearest branch to stop his fall.

"Shit, Tony!" Gibbs said, softly, putting his hand on Tony's shoulder.

Tony shook his hand off and looked out to the distance, blinking back tears. He bit his lip again, and tried to think of how to tell them.

Kate sensed his reluctance, "Tony, you don't have to tell us"

He nodded, "And lose my job, Kate?" he asked, not looking at her. Then he gave a small smile, "Passed my use-by date, hey boss?"

"You never had a use-by date" Gibbs told him seriously. "Tony, do we know this agent?"

Tony nodded, looking away from them again as tears started to fall down his face.

"Do we work with them?" Kate asked

"Not all the time" Tony responded, his voice shaking. He looked back into the distance, seeing the mountains and wondered when he'd be taking his much needed time off. "They kinda, help all the teams" he added

"Has she worked with us at all?" Kate asked, trying to extract more information

Tony nodded again as more tears rolled down his face.

Gibbs frowned; "We're not going to be able to guess, Tony" he prodded

"And you call yourselves 'Special Agents'?" Tony replied

"Agent Lewis? I've seen you two together a few times and we've worked with her, she's good-looking" Kate asked

Tony gave a small laugh, wiping away his tears, "No, she's not good-looking, she's hot. But it's not her"

"What about Agent Cassidy? You liked her" Gibbs asked

Tony sniffled and smiled, "We had a few flings, but it's not her either"

Silence fell over them as Kate and Gibbs tried to think of the agent. They exchanged glances, gathering their thoughts, "Agent Hood? She liked you" Kate asked

Choking back tears, which ended in another sob, Tony shook his head, more tears falling down his face. "No, she liked you" he responded

"Agent Bowman? You liked her too" Gibbs asked

"No, _you_ liked her Gibbs" Tony replied

Gibbs sighed, "Tony, give us some kind of clue"

He looked off into the distance, "It's, ah, Agent…" Tony closed his eyes, making more tears roll down his cheeks; he let out a shaky breath, "Agent Smith"

Kate frowned, confused, "I didn't think she was you're type, Tony. She's your age"

Tony gave a small smile "No, Kate. The other Agent Smith"

Kate's frown disappeared as she thought of the other Agent Smith, replacing her frown with raised eyebrows. "But, you…" she said, "You're always talking about your weekends and flirting with women"

Tony looked down, "Doesn't mean I can't think of women as being good-looking, attractive or even hot. I just prefer…" he left the sentence hanging, then looked back up "And on weekends, I kinda, made some of that up, I haven't seen anybody for … a while"

Gibbs still looked a bit surprised, "How long have you known you were gay?"

Tony winced "Always straight to the point. Ah, not long, a few weeks. You guys are the first people I've told, apart from Ducky". He looked back down as his eyes started to well up again, "I'd, ah, appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody"

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Gibbs asked

Tony looked up as the tears ran down his face, "I don't think I wanted to tell you at all. I didn't know how you'd react or how to tell you" he wiped his face with the back of his hand and looked away, "I know the Navy's position on this sort of thing, and thought you might have the same sort of opinion. And I didn't want you to think of me as some fag or something"

Tony sniffled and let out a deep breath, "This is kinda getting weird now, I'm getting another coffee" he said as he started climbing down, "And, ah, I'm sorry"

"For what?" Gibbs asked softly

"For not living up to your expectations" Tony said as he disappeared from view

* * *

That's it for chapter 29... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	30. Chapter 30

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it, i wasn't quite sure how that last chapter would turn out... as always a few more reviews wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

Gibbs gave Kate a questioning look and sighed. He put his face in his hands, and gently rubbed his face up and down. He looked back up at Kate who shrugged. 

"I would never have guessed" Kate said

"Yeah, but I suppose they were a few comments…" Gibbs responded, "Why does he think he hasn't met my expectations?"

"He thinks of you like a father figure, I suppose" Kate replied, "And no father wants their son to be gay"

Gibbs nodded and started climbing down the tree slowly. When he got to the bottom, he noticed McGee on one of the swings, drinking a large milkshake.

"Which way did he go?" Gibbs asked

"To the toilets" McGee replied, standing up, "Is he okay, he looked upset"

"Really? And what gave it away, Agent McGee?" Gibbs asked sarcastically

"Ah, probably that he was crying" McGee replied

Gibbs silently swore, running a hand through his hair as he walked in the direction of the public toilets. When he tried the door to the toilets, he realised it was locked, he swore aloud. He was about to call Tony's name when he heard movement on the other side of the block. Walking around the block, he eventually found Tony leaning against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest. Gibbs was slightly taken aback, briefly wondering what to do; he watched Tony's body shake as he sobbed. Gibbs' heart constricted and he slowly moved to his side.

"Tony?" he called softly

Tony raised his head and looked at Gibbs. His face was red and had tear streams marking it. Tony's body continued to tremble and the tears kept coming as he silently sobbed. "What do you want, boss?" he asked, his voice shaking

Gibbs shook his head, "I'm not here as your boss, Tony. I'm here as your friend." Gibbs told him steadily, sitting down beside him "And I want you to know that you haven't disappointed or failed me in anyway. You're a fantastic agent, one whom I wish to keep, and you're a fantastic person. Do you understand?"

Tony nodded and continued hugging himself. Gibbs watched him and slowly pulled him into an embrace, hugging the younger man. Tony nuzzled his face into his shoulder and let the tears fall freely. Tony sniffled, "Gibbs, you know, you're like the father I wish I had" Tony said into his shoulder

"Yeah, Tony, I know. And you're like the son I'll never have" Gibbs replied

Gibbs leaned against the wall. He listened to the sound of Tony's breaths as they became more regular and evenly spaced as the younger man stopped crying. Eventually Gibbs felt his arm lose it's feeling. He slowly moved his arm and called Tony softly, but when the younger man didn't reply, he realised that Tony had fallen asleep. Gibbs grunted, and called Tony's name a bit louder until he heard him stir.

"Come on, Tony. Time to get up" Gibbs said

Tony opened his eyes, squinting when the sun hit them, "Where are we?" he mumbled

"The middle of nowhere. And now we are going back to the car" Gibbs replied, pulling himself out of the embrace and getting to his feet

He offered Tony a hand up and they went back to the car. As they approached the car, Kate gave them a questioning glance, but didn't say anything.

"More coffee, boss?" McGee asked

"Yeah. Make it quick though" Gibbs answered

Gibbs walked around to the driver's side and got into the car

Tony got in the passenger side and quickly fell asleep again. Kate sat in the back and looked into Gibbs' eyes through his review mirror, "Is he okay?"

"He will be" Gibbs replied, "How long we were over there?"

"About 10 minutes" Kate responded

Gibbs nodded, watching as McGee came back from star-bucks. As McGee got in the back, Gibbs gunned the engine and took off before McGee had closed the door. As they got back onto the highway, McGee passed the coffee over, "They said the next 'good quality coffee shop' was at least four hours away. Which, with your driving, should be around 3 hours 15, maybe 30"

Gibbs smiled, and to prove the point, put the accelerator down further.

* * *

Tony groaned and rolled over, quickly realizing he wasn't in his preferred sleeping position, horizontal. He half-opened one of his eyes to see he was still sitting in the car, which felt like it was no longer moving. Silently cursing his teammates for leaving him in the car whilst they went to catch Brown, he closed his eyes again and wished for the day to be over. As he was beginning to fall asleep again, he heard a grumble come from the driver's seat. He frowned and slowly rolled over again to see Gibbs squinting at a PDA, then looking back up to something out the front window. Tony looked out the window to see a large sign indicating that they had 15kms to drive until they reached the sticks, 93kms to drive until they reached the middle of nowhere, 168 to drive until they reached beyond the middle of nowhere and another 204kms to drive until they reached dingo whoop-whoop. 

Gibbs grumbled again, "I think we missed a turning" he said quietly

Tony didn't reply, thinking the older man was talking to himself until Gibbs looked directly at him. Tony reached out and took the PDA, tapping the screen a few times, "How come we missed it?" he asked

Gibbs looked over his shoulder at McGee and Kate who were both snoring softly, "Nobody to give me directions, only noticed when I reached this sign and realised this isn't the way I want to be going"

Tony grunted, "You need to turn around, you missed the turning by around an hour"

Gibbs nodded and turned the car around sharply. Tony heard the tires squeal and then a bump from within the car.

He saw Kate sit up, "We hit something?" she asked rubbing her head

"No, but we found a new use for your head" Tony replied, smirking

"Why get a new one when old one isn't broken?" Gibbs asked as he slapped Tony over the back of his head

Tony rubbed his head and half-glared at Gibbs, "You realise whenever you do that I lose thousands of brain cells?"

"Certainly explains a lot" Gibbs replied

"What are you implying, boss?" Tony asked, narrowing his eyes at Gibbs as he thought of their earlier discussion

"Be nice, Jethro" Kate told Gibbs warningly

"Jethro?" Tony asked, surprised, "So, you guys finally declared your love for each other?"

Kate smiled, blushing slightly.

"No!" Gibbs said, denying it, "We're not in love, don't know what gave you that idea"

"Well, gee, I dunno, maybe that we kissed earlier!" Kate replied, furious with Gibbs

"You kissed?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows, "Way to go!"

"No! We didn't!" Gibbs replied, glaring at Tony

Tony looked between Kate and Gibbs, frowning, "It's a very interesting relationship you two have, you know"

"We are not having a relationship!" Gibbs responded, raising his voice

"No, but you want to!" Tony said

"No, we don't!" Gibbs told him sternly

Kate rolled her eyes, then glared at Gibbs, "You know, you're like a bloody yoyo. I don't know where I stand with you!"

"Oooh, lover's tiff!" Tony said

"Shut up, DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped, "Or you can walk!". Gibbs looked at Kate through the review mirror, "You stand by my side as my sub-ordinate, as professionals" Gibbs paused, "We did not discuss having a relationship! This is exactly why relationships do not work!" he gestured between them

"Well, you can have my resignation then as well" Kate said simply

* * *

That's it for chapter 30... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	31. Chapter 31

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

"What!" Tony shouted

Gibbs slammed on the brakes so hard that they heard the tyres squeal, everybody in the car was thrown forwards by the abrupt braking. As the car stopped skidding and came to a stop, the airbags came out, making popping noises. They sat in the car in silence for a while, listening only to the sound of each others frantic breathing. When the airbag had deflated, Gibbs pushed it aside, "Kate, outside, now!" he said in a strangely calm voice.

"Did we hit something?" McGee asked, waking up as Gibbs and Kate climbed out of the car

"The car didn't, Probie. But they did" Tony replied, nodding towards Gibbs and Kate, "A bump in their relationship already" Tony said, shaking his head

"They're in a relationship?" McGee asked, stunned

"Depends who you ask" Tony replied

"I think I missed something" McGee said, frowning as he tried to undo his seatbelt

"I know you did, Probie" Tony responded, following McGee's actions, "Ow! That's gonna hurt like hell later" he said as he examined the mark across his chest. He sighed, "How far away is the next good coffee shop?"

"We've already passed it" McGee replied, "We tried to wake you, but you wouldn't budge. We got you a coffee, but it was going cold so Kate drank it, Gibbs said it wasn't strong enough and was too sweet"

"It's better than the sludge he drinks" Tony responded. Tony opened the door and got out, stretching his legs and yawning. He looked over to where Kate and Gibbs were talking and wondered what they were talking about. Gibbs was waving his arms around, emphasizing what he was saying, he looked pretty pissed. Kate stood with her arms folded and looked equally pissed. Tony sighed and leaned against the car, folding his arms. He began thinking of what agency he would move to when he handed in his resignation, it would still come as a shock to Gibbs that he still wanted to leave, but at the end of the day, it was his choice, not Gibbs'. Perhaps the feds, he smirked when he thought of working with Fornell, yeah, that could be interesting…

* * *

"You're not quitting, I'm not gonna let you!" Gibbs told her

"You don't have a choice!" Kate replied, leveling her eyes at Gibbs

"I'm not going to let you resign, Kate! I won't accept your resignation!" Gibbs responded

"So, I'll hand it straight to the director!" Kate said

"Why do you want to leave!"

"Why do you want me to stay!"

Gibbs turned around and threw his hands into the air. He looked back to the car and watched Tony leaning against the car. Crossing his arms over his chest, Gibbs turned back to Kate, "Because I don't want you to leave. You're one of the best agents I've ever worked with, you …"

"Is that all you see me as? An agent?" Kate asked infuriated, "I can't believe you! You're pathetic!"

"What do you expect me to say, Kate? Of course I see you as an agent, first and foremost. Everything else comes second. Why do you think relationships in workplaces don't work? Especially _our_ workplace?..."

"Because you don't let them!" Kate interrupted him

"We don't have time for relationships!" Gibbs continued

"So, make time!" Kate responded

Kate and Gibbs glared at each other, turning it into a staring contest. Kate glared into Gibbs' eyes, flicking between each eye, noticing that one of his eyes was slightly smaller than the other. Gibbs glared into Kate's eyes, seeing the mascara and blush that she'd applied yesterday, which was beginning to wear off. He watched as her eyes began to water from staring too long without blinking, she could be as stubborn as he was when she wanted to be. Gibbs' cell rang, causing them to break out of the contest. Kate blinked a few times and walked away from Gibbs, in the opposite direction of the car, she didn't talk with the others just yet, she wanted some time alone.

Gibbs watched Kate walk off, and kept his eyes on her as he flicked out his cell and growled into it. Ducky was on the other end,

"Did I interrupt something?" Ducky asked

"Yes" Gibbs replied as he hung up.

He put his cell away and rubbed his face. He walked after Kate, trying to think about what he was going to say, he mentally hit himself over his head for telling her that he thought of her as an agent first and a person second. They both knew that wasn't true. He sighed, he felt that anything he would say now would probably make things worse, perhaps he should just leave it, tell her to go back to the car. At least, if that happened he'd have more time to think and could make it up to her later. He grinned as he thought of the possibilities. The grin disappeared though as he neared Kate, he stood behind her and spoke softly, "Kate, I…"

"Forget it, Gibbs. I thought we were getting somewhere last night, but it seems I was wrong" Kate interrupted him, turning around to face him "I thought we had something, I was sure there was a spark when we first met on Air Force One"

"What? Like, love at first sight?" Gibbs asked, raising an eyebrow

"Something like that" Kate replied

"Well, now who's being pathetic?" Gibbs asked, semi-seriously

Kate rolled her eyebrows and growled as she walked past him, heading back to the car.

Gibbs reached out and grabbed her arm as she walked past, "Kate, that's not what I meant"

"Get your hands off me!" Kate growled

Gibbs looked into her eyes, seeing their threat. He did as she told him and watched as she stalked back to the car.

* * *

Tony was throwing the keys to the car into the air and catching them again. He watched as Gibbs grabbed Kate's arm. Tony caught the keys and started walking towards them, intending to restrain and/or hurt Gibbs if he tried to hurt Kate. After taking a few steps, he noticed Gibbs release Kate and saw Kate heading back to the car. She didn't look too happy; Tony looked back to Gibbs, who was also watching Kate with a regretful expression on his face. Tony wondered what had happened between the two of them, anything was possible; they were as stubborn as each other and usually got what they wanted. So why were they not together? Tony knew that was what they both wanted.

Kate approached the car and glared at Tony, "Give me the keys. I'm driving" she told him

Tony raised his eyebrows, "You sure that's a good idea, Kate?" he asked, thinking it probably wasn't a good idea for her to be driving if she was pissed off and upset.

Kate growled something incomprehensible at him, and held out her hand expectantly for the keys. Tony obliged and watched her go and get into the driver's seat. He ducked his head into the car.

"Shouldn't we wait for Gibbs?" he asked

"No, we're leaving him behind" Kate replied seriously, trying to start the engine

"He'll be pretty pissed" Tony told her

"I don't care!" Kate shouted at him, trying to start the engine again. She turned the keys, waiting for the engine to roar into life and swore when it screeched, then spluttered and died

"I think you flooded it" Tony suggested as Kate got out of the car

"I haven't bloody flooded it! I know how to drive the bloody thing!" she shouted at him, popping the hood, she pointed at Gibbs, "He probably overheated it from his damn dangerous and foolish driving! Not too mention giving us all whip-lash from the hand-brakey he pulled"

She walked around to the front of the car and lifted up the hood, attaching the rod so that it didn't fall down again whilst she was looking inside.

"He didn't use the hand-brake, Kate" Tony said, standing by her side

"Do I look like I care?" Kate asked as she found the container for the water

"Yes" Tony replied, watching as she took off the lid to the container and grunted, "Empty?"

Kate nodded, "Any spare water?"

Tony walked around the side of the car and looked through it, asking McGee if he knew where Gibbs kept spare water incase this sort of thing happened. McGee told him to try to boot. A while later, Tony came back with a two-litre bottle of water and poured it into the container. "Were you serious about resigning?" he asked

"Yeah, were you?" Kate responded

Tony nodded, "Still going to"

"Why?" Kate asked

"Don't think I can work there any longer. Apart from the fact that you guys now know, don't know, just too stressful" Tony replied

Kate nodded, "Yeah, I know the feeling. I'm still going to as well"

Tony emptied the bottle and put the cap back on the container. "Well, I want you to know that you have my full support whether or not you choose to leave"

Kate smiled, "Thanks, and I, you"

* * *

That's it for chapter 31... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	32. Chapter 32

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

Another short chapter...

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

Gibbs kicked at the ground, sending stones and a cloud of dust into the air. _Way to go Jethro, nice way to make repairs!_ He thought to himself angrily. Putting his hands on top of his head, he closed his eyes and willed the ground to open up and swallow him. This was going to be a very long day. He watched Kate try to start the car, then stalk around to the front and open the hood. Kate reached under the hood and played with a few things. Gibbs watched and frowned, he wondered when Kate had learnt anything about cars and how she knew what to do. Perhaps Tony had taught her, he glanced to the younger man as he walked around the car. Gibbs paced to a nearby tree, trying to think about what he was going to do, he didn't want to lose an agent, he didn't want to lose Kate. When he reached the tree, he turned on his heel and walked back to the spot. 

Maybe he should send her some flowers, roses. He looked back to Kate, who was still leaning under the hood. Tilting his head on the side, he thought about it, but decided against it, Kate didn't seem like a rose's kind of person. Her tattoo wasn't a rose. He sighed loudly and sat down, putting his face in his hands. Thinking over the events of the past day put his head in a spin. Nothing had prepared him for what Tony had revealed to them. Sure, there was the occasional remark, but they had been covered up nicely or at least dismissed as nothing, Tony being Tony. He suspected that Tony still wanted to leave, but he hoped that he'd be able to make him stay.

But he'd never seen Kate's resignation coming. That came out of far left field. He'd always thought of her as strong, determined and resilient to anything that tried to make her day a bad one. Given the chance to start the day again and asked what he expected the day to bring; this would certainly have not been something he would have predicted. He'd never thought this would happen. He'd never had need to. He liked Kate exactly where she was. No, that was the mind-frame he had to get out of. He wanted Kate closer to him, to be more than just a colleague, somebody he would see more than just in the hours at work.

Gibbs rubbed his face and glanced back at the car. Tony and Kate had finished looking under the hood and were now leaning against the front of the car. He watched as McGee came around from the back of the car and talked with them. Gibbs frowned and thought about McGee, he'd also been acting strangely of late. Perhaps he was considering resigning as well and hadn't told him yet, waiting for a 'good' moment to tell him. Gibbs shook his head and dismissed the thought, McGee was always acting like that, it seemed that he felt as though he hadn't found his place in the team yet, like he didn't know if he was part of the team. But of course he was, McGee complemented the dynamics of the rest of the team and worked well.

Gibbs sighed; he really didn't want or need any more surprises. It was enough with Tony and Kate leaving, especially Kate. He pinched his nose and closed his eyes, trying to calm the feeling of dread that had somehow made its way into his conscience. It was frustrating, he felt that his team was falling apart and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Perhaps they had been planning this all along, to leave, timing their resignations to make it seem like he was at fault. Maybe they never wanted to part of his team since the beginning, since he had hired them. He began wondering if Abby and Ducky were in on it too and were just passing time until the right opportunity to leave came up. They must have been planning this behind his back, and for a long time. It seemed strange that he'd never picked up on it before.

Gibbs' thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his cell. He pulled out the device and looked at caller ID and growled. Flipping it open he snapped into the speaker, "Ducky! Not now!". Flipping the cell closed, he threw it at the nearest tree, causing it break open and fall to pieces on the ground.

* * *

That's it for chapter 32.. I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	33. Chapter 33

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

Kate closed the hood of the car and sat on it as Tony put the bottle of water away. Tony came back and leaned against it next to her. As one, they looked to where Gibbs had sat down in the dirt where Kate had left him. Tony looked back at Kate and raised his eyebrows, who had the same expression on her face. She looked up at Tony and shrugged. They stood in silence for a while, taking in the mid-morning sun and looking out at the shimmering horizon, where there nemesis was hiding.

"So, does he know?" Kate asked, breaking the silence. When Tony gave her a blank look, she added, "Smith, does he know?"

Tony shook his head and looked out to the distance, "I don't even know if he's…um, if he likes guys"

"Why don't you ask him?" Kate asked

Tony gave a small laugh, "And how would I do that? Agent Todd?"

"Just go up to him and ask if he's gay" Kate replied

Tony winced, "Not very subtle"

"Who's gay?" McGee asked, coming around from the back of the car to join them

"Nobody you know, Probie. Just a friend of mine" Tony replied, giving Kate a warning glance as she glared at him

McGee looked slightly surprised, "Didn't really think you'd hang around with somebody who was gay, Tony"

"Why not?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrow and standing up

"Because, well, ever since you kissed Voss when we were chasing…" McGee began

Kate stopped McGee by glaring at him; she looked back to Tony who had gone red

"I didn't know that was a guy, Probie! I am not gay!" Tony snapped

"I wasn't implying you were gay," McGee said quickly, "I was saying…"

"Yeah, what were you saying, Probie?" Tony asked, moving closer to the younger agent

"Nothing" McGee replied

"Good" Tony responded, sitting back on the hood of the car again and looking back into the distance

McGee let out a breath and looked at Kate who looked concerned.

"So, what's up with Gibbs?" McGee asked, looking out to Gibbs who had just thrown his cell into a tree. McGee frowned and sighed, knowing he would have to try and 'fix it' later

"Do you want the long or abridged version?" Tony asked

Before McGee had the chance to reply, Tony's cell rang, interrupting the conversation. He picked it out of his pocket and answered, "DiNozzo"

"Anthony, it's Ducky. Do you know how Jethro is?" Ducky asked

Tony looked back to their boss who was still sitting down, "Um, he's okay, I suppose, a bit pissed off…"

"Yes, I gathered that." Ducky replied, "Any idea how long he slept for last night? Abigail informed me that you rang in the early hours this morning with a lead. I assumed that you are all out somewhere as I didn't see any of you this morning"

"Ah…" Tony replied and looked at Kate, "You know how much sleep Gibbs got last night?"

Kate glared at him, "Why do you think I would know?"

"Because, you two arrived together this morning" Tony replied

McGee raised his eyebrows and looked between the two agents

"He was working on his boat when I got there, we didn't go to sleep, so…" Kate replied, blushing as she realised what it sounded like, "But we didn't…"

Tony wriggled his eyebrows as he replied to Ducky, "He didn't get any sleep, Duck"

He heard the older man sigh, "What about food?"

"Does coffee count?" Tony asked, hopefully

"No it doesn't. Anthony, after the torment his body has gone through over the last few days, the lack of sleep and nutrition may make him act strangely, maybe see or hear things that aren't there, believe things that aren't happening, especially after his head wound. I suggest that he doesn't do anymore driving and should get some rest and sustenance as soon as he can" Ducky explained

"Right, thanks Duck" Tony responded and flipped the cell closed

Tony looked at Kate who had a look on her face that was a cross between worried and pissed off. The speaker on Tony's cell was loud enough for them all to hear the conversation.

"So, I guess we have to go get him" McGee said to nobody in-particular

"You volunteering, Probie?" Tony asked

"No" McGee answered

"Maybe we should all get him, he won't listen to anybody on their own, they'd be doomed" Tony stated

"Yeah, well I say we just leave him here" Kate said

"Leave who, where?" a voice asked from behind them. In their conversation, they hadn't seen Gibbs get up and come back to the car. They turned around to face him.

"Nobody, boss" Tony replied

Gibbs glared at him, "So, that was your plan all along, to bring us out here and leave me behind. Nice, subtle. And the emotional crap, just to top it off, the icing on the cake, yeah, very nice. But it didn't work;" Gibbs said, taking a step forward and pointing at Tony, "I'm onto you and your little plan"

Tony took a step back, hitting the car, "I don't know what you're talking about, boss"

"We don't have a plan, only to catch Brown" McGee said

Gibbs rounded on the younger agent, "And McGee, when were you planning on handing in your resignation as well?" he turned and pointed at Kate and Tony, "They seem to be a step ahead of you. Both in the same day, that has to be a track record. I'm aiming for the highest number in a day, think I'll achieve it? I do, seeing as everybody is only waiting for the right time to leave"

McGee looked in shock at Kate and Tony, "You both handed in your resignations?"

"Don't act as if you didn't know!" Gibbs shouted, bringing McGee's attention back to his furious boss

"But I didn't" McGee responded, still in shock

Gibbs grabbed the front of McGee shirt and pushed him against the car, "Don't give me that crap! What was your excuse gonna be? Were you even gonna give me an excuse? Or were you just gonna leave and expect me to understand? Because I don't! Or were you waiting for me to fire you! Because I can! You're fired! There, easier?"

Tony and Kate hauled their boss off McGee. Gibbs made their job harder by struggling to get out of their grip, randomly punching at them. They tackled him to the ground and tried to restrain him as he continued to lash out at them and began yelling at them to get off him.

"Only if you calm down" Tony shouted at him over his yells

"I am calm! Get off me!" Gibbs yelled in reply

McGee stepped back from the car, and looked on in shock at the scene playing out in front of him.

"Let me go! Get off me!" Gibbs continued yelling

"Gibbs, you need to calm down" Kate shouted as he continued to struggle

"Argghh! Get off me!"

Gibbs freed one of his hands and punched at Tony, when he pulled back; Gibbs took advantage and raised his knee hard into Tony's stomach, making the younger man double over. Kate struggled to keep Gibbs under control.

"McGee, get here now!" she shouted

McGee rushed over and tried to restrain the struggling, yelling man who was his boss.

"Let me go!"

"Tony?" Kate asked, quickly glancing at him

Tony nodded, "I'm okay"

"Get off me now!"

Kate looked back at Gibbs as he got his hand free and knocked Kate in her face.

"Get off me!" Gibbs yelled, now taking deep panting breaths

Tony watched as Kate continued to try to restrain him, "Gibbs, calm down!" Tony shouted. When Gibbs didn't do as he was asked, Tony punched Gibbs in his face, effectively knocking him out. Tony stepped back and leaned over, putting his hands on his knees, still trying to regain his breath.

Kate let go of Gibbs, pulling back and rolling over onto the ground, breathing heavily. She reached up to her mouth and found it was bleeding; she swore and wiped away the blood. McGee sat back and looked to Tony, "I don't think that was a good idea, Tony"

"You prefer being beaten to a pulp?" Tony asked, straightening up and frowning

"No, I just think, with his head injury…" McGee left the sentence hanging

"Yeah, well I didn't see any sedatives lying around and I definitely didn't see him calming down anytime soon" Tony replied, "You okay, Kate?"

Kate nodded, "Bastard" she said under her breath

They gathered their thoughts for a few minutes whilst they collected their breaths.

"So, you guys are leaving?" McGee finally asked

"Yeah," Tony replied distractedly, "But look on the bright side, you'll be the senior field agent"

McGee nodded, eyes downcast. "You'll be okay, McGee." Kate said "We're leaving because of personal issues" she explained

"Yeah, too hard to work there anymore" Tony added

McGee frowned, "You guys are seeing each other?"

Both agents laughed. "I don't think so, Probie" Tony said

"Me either" Kate said

"But it won't be the same without you" McGee insisted, "Everyday I work there…" he stopped, his eyes darting backwards and forwards as he realised something, "Right, so when are we throwing a party?"

"Party?" Kate asked

"We?" Tony asked

"Yeah, Gibbs fired me" McGee replied as he looked back at his former-boss, "We should probably get him in the car"

They loaded him into the car and Tony headed for the driver's side, starting the engine on the first turn. "Everyone in?" he asked

* * *

That's it for chapter 33... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	34. Chapter 34

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

"Tony, don't, you'll regret it" Kate warned him 

Tony leaned forward, "He has to eat, Kate". He shook Gibbs, who sat bolt-upright and grabbed his shirt, ready to punch him. "Whoa, boss, easy." Tony said quickly

Gibbs blinked a few times, trying to clear the sleep and focus on something, anything.

"Ah, boss, my shirt" Tony said

Gibbs let go of his shirt and breathed out deeply a few times, not used to being woken up like that. Still blinking furiously, he squinted and tried to make out where they were. They seemed to have stopped at a deli or petrol station. He felt something shoved into his hands, he looked down and saw a brown paper bag, he looked back up at Tony.

"Eat!" the younger man told him

Gibbs opened the bag and pulled out a pie. He frowned and looked at Tony. After taking a bite, he realised how hungry he was and finished the pie in a record time. He sighed and climbed out of the car, only to fall back in. Frowning, he undid the seat belt and got out, stumbling into the side of the car. "Wha..?" he asked

Kate walked over to him and handed him a water bottle, "Here, you're probably a bit dehydrated."

Gibbs accepted the bottle and took a long swig, feeling the liquid go through his system into his stomach. He looked back at Kate, who was still standing in-front of him; he frowned as he noticed a scratch on the side of her mouth. As he brought his hand up, he saw her flinch. His heart constricted at the gesture and he slowed the movement of his hand, lightly running his thumb over the mark. "Did I…" he asked

"Yeah, you were pretty distressed. We couldn't get you to calm down" Kate replied

Gibbs lowered his hand and looked down, "I don't remember" he mumbled, "Well, not all of it, just bits and pieces"

"Yeah, Ducky said that would happen. We rang him and told him what happened, he wasn't impressed" Kate said

Gibbs nodded and took another gulp of water, then sat back in the car. "So, what else did I miss?"

"What do you remember?" Kate asked

"You resigning" Gibbs replied, sighing and closing his eyes, "Everything before that I can remember, mostly. Nothing afterwards"

Kate breathed out and leant against the car, "Well, we had an argument; I went back to the car. You came back to the car slightly afterwards, fired McGee, then we all got into a fight. You kneed DiNozzo in the stomach and hit me in the face, then DiNozzo knocked you out" Kate relayed the story, "Any questions?"

She heard him breathe out deeply, "God" he said softly. He choked back a breath, "I really screwed up"

Kate got up and turned around to look into the car, he was laying over the backseat so that she couldn't see his face. "Yeah, you did" she agreed with him

Gibbs sat up and looked at her, "The team really is falling…has fallen apart. When did that happen?"

Kate shrugged and looked away.

"Crap!" Gibbs muttered under his breath and closed the door. He put his head against the window again and tried to figure out what to do.

* * *

Kate climbed into the passenger seat with a grunt. She closed the door and leaned back into the seat, letting it support her. The car went down a bit as Tony, then McGee got into the car. Tony turned on the engine and closed the door. 

"Which way, Probie?" Tony asked

"You wanna go out the same way we came in, then you need to take the first left once we're out of the town." McGee answered

Tony nodded and headed towards the end of town. The town was a small one, there was only a few buildings and one or two run-down houses that could be seen from the road. It seemed as though the road had been paved a long-time ago and was used a lot, it was rough and in desperate need of repair. As they reached the last of the buildings, Tony yawned, "Anyone wanna play 'I spy'?"

"No" Kate responded as she pulled down the sun-visor to keep the sun out of her eyes. As the flap came down, the mirror on the underside of it swung open as well. Kate looked into the mirror and saw Gibbs' piercing blue eyes looking back at her, but he looked away once he realised she had seen him. She closed the mirror and closed her eyes, pinching her nose. Leaning her head on the head rest, she tried to make sense of what had happened over the last week. Her emotions were all over the place, all because of her silver-haired, blue-eyed, emotionally reclusive, bastard of a boss. The scene from the fight kept repeating itself in her head. She couldn't help it when she flinched when he had reached out to her before, and then she didn't know whether to feel guilty or satisfied when she'd seen the hurt in his eyes.

Kate snapped out of her thoughts when she heard somebody speaking, she hadn't heard them at first because they were speaking so softly. She looked up and realised it was Gibbs who was talking.

"Ah, I think I owe you all an apology" he mumbled. Kate waited for him to continue, and when he didn't, she looked at Tony who returned the expression.

"You say something, boss?" Tony asked

Gibbs remained silent as he stared out his window. But before Tony could ask again, he spoke, "Yeah". Gibbs cleared his throat and continued, "About what happened earlier, I'm not entirely sure what happened, I don't really remember it, but I'm not going to make excuses. What I said and did, I was out of line, that kind of behavior is unacceptable" Gibbs said, taking a breath, "Except when in the boxing ring, or in the gym. But I don't want any of you to take you I said or did to you, to heart. If I could take it back, I would." He took another breath and looked at McGee "That includes me firing you, I want to take that back, I think you are a great asset to the team and I don't want you to leave"

McGee looked directly into Gibbs' eyes and bit his lip, "But I don't know if I want to stay" he replied.

Gibbs closed his eyes and nodded, turning back to the window and breathing out heavily, "That's understandable" he said softly

Tony and Kate exchanged glances. "But I don't know if I want to leave either" McGee said, "I love working at NCIS, I just don't think it'll be the same without Kate and Tony"

"Yeah, well, I don't want them to leave either" Gibbs responded, "Don't want any of you to leave, but at the end of the day, it's your choice. However if it's the case that I have to change a few rules..." Gibbs left the sentence hanging, and looked to Kate, "Or anything, I can do that. The rules, I made you learn them so you could learn how to break them, rules are made to be broken"

"What number is that?" McGee asked

"Doesn't have a number, it's implicit in rules 14 and 16." Gibbs replied

"Any other rules you want to tell us about, boss?" Tony asked

"Follow your heart, but that doesn't have a number either, it's not so much a rule as a standard to live by" Gibbs replied

"Obviously one you don't follow very well" Kate responded, with a tint of anger

Gibbs nodded, still looking at Kate's seat "Yeah and I admit it. Emotionally closed off, that's what my ex's called me, and they're right"

"I'll say" Kate said

Gibbs sighed and rubbed his eyes, turning back to the window. The car fell into silence as they each got caught up in their own thoughts. The only thing to be heard was steady sound of the humming of the engine and the occasional scrunch of the seats as they went round a corner or somebody moved in their seat.

"McGee, how much longer till we get there?" Gibbs asked, breaking the silence

"If we continue at this speed, just over an hour" McGee replied

"Right, have you contacted the local law authorities?" Gibbs asked, regaining his role as team leader

"Yeah, they've been briefed of the situation and are keeping surveillance on Brown, if he so much as sneezes, we'll know about it" McGee replied

* * *

That's it for chapter 34... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	35. Chapter 35

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

The car entered the small, quaint town, and the team saw the first patch of green grass since the beginning of the journey. Traveling to the centre, McGee gave directions on how to get the local cop-shop. Tony parked the car out the front of an old but well kept building.

"Well, this should be it" McGee said as he put away his PDA

They got out of the car and walked into the police station. As they walked through the door, their eyes landed on a uniformed officer, a constable, who was asleep in his chair with his feet rested on his desk. Gibbs raised his eyebrows and was about to wake the man up when another officer walked in.

Upon seeing their expressions, the man introduced himself as Sergeant Deakin and explained that the constable had attended a motor vehicle accident over the night which had lasted longer than expected. He led them into another office and sat them down, "Okay, so here's what's going on, your man is still residing at the One Stop Inn, he's made a few trips to the local supermarket and various other stores, nothing interesting. We have an officer keeping surveillance and last time he called in, your man was still in the motel"

Gibbs nodded towards the sleeping constable, "Hope he's more alert than him"

Deakin smiled, "I would hope so, he's only been on duty for two hours"

"When did he last call in?" Tony asked

"Ten minutes ago. I have 3 other officers at my disposal and a further 4 if I call some in from the nearest town" Deakin said

"We should be fine" Gibbs answered, "So, where is this hotel?"

* * *

They pulled up outside the hotel and got out, moving to the back of the car to get bullet-proof vests on and ammunition for their guns. The local police pulled up behind them and suited up as well. Deakin made his way to Gibbs and spread the blueprints of the One Stop Inn on the hood of his car. Deakin pointed to the prints, "Exits are here and here, fire exits are here and here. His room is" he studied the map, squinting "About here"

Gibbs nodded, "Okay, you and you're officers take those exits, we'll go in and get him"

Deakin nodded and directed his officers to the various exits, running off in the opposite direction to them. Gibbs turned to his own agents, watching them get ready to go in, and realised that this would be one of the last times they would do this.

"Boss?" Tony asked as he saw the expression on his face

Gibbs looked to Tony and smiled, "Ready to kick some ass?"

They moved as one into the hotel and to the room. Gibbs and McGee went to one side of the door whilst Tony and Kate stayed on the other. Gibbs gave Tony a nod, drawing his gun. Tony nodded back and kicked the door open, going inside with his gun drawn, working with Gibbs, and Kate and McGee as they searched the rooms. Shouts of 'clear' rang through the small apartment like place. Kate, McGee and Tony met in the centre, with confusion written all over their faces.

"What the…?" a voice asked from the door

They turned around and saw Brown as he recognized them and bolted. They ran after him, with shouts of "NCIS, freeze!" as they ran down the corridor. Brown turned a corner and ran towards the front entrance, but stopped and spun around when he saw Deakin waiting for him. Tony stepped forwards with his gun drawn, "You've got nowhere to go, you're surrounded"

Brown looked around desperately and pulled out his own gun, pointing it at the agents, "So, I take it you didn't find him in time" he said with a slight smile

"What makes you think that?" Kate asked

"For starters, Agent Gibbs is not here, secondly, he was almost dead when I left him, I made sure of that" Brown replied, grinning

"Put the gun down, Brown" Tony said steadily

"You first, sweetie" Brown responded, swinging his gun around, "I couldn't help it, when I found out Mitchell had been seeing Dowling," he made a sudden movement, "I was so pissed off. Then he died and a few days later and that other bloke figured it out, so I killed him too…" Brown trailed off, and smiled, "That's when I realised I liked doing it, got a …thrill from doing it. It was exciting"

Brown stood there with a smug look on his face. Even though there were more than enough guns pointed at him, he smiled at the thought that he had killed their leader. He froze, however, when he heard a cold, unidentified voice behind him. "Put the gun down now." Kate's eyes flicked to the tall figure standing behind Brown.

"Now, now, Jethro, that's really not necessary" Brown chided him, turning slightly to look at Gibbs, "You look like shit, you shoulda stayed where I left you, you would have been much happier"

"I said, put the gun down!" Gibbs demanded

Brown smiled, his eyes twinkling, "I heard you. But I really don't feel like doing that" he moved the gun around so it pointed at Kate, he watched Gibbs for any change in his expression, but none was given.

"Put the gun down now!" Gibbs snapped, muttering to himself "Or I swear to god…"

"See, that's the problem with all you federal agents, you're all wound up so tight" Brown told them, laughing slightly. "And I know there is no possible way I'm gonna get outta here alive," he raised his gun at Tony, then flicked it to Kate, "I wonder how many of you I could take down with me"

"You wouldn't be stupid enough to try," Tony threatened, his gun aimed at Browns head. Tony's breathing deepened when he saw Brown flick off the safety catch of his gun. All four agents quickly followed suit and unclicked the safety catch of their own weapons, keeping them trained on Brown.

"Try me" Brown challenged them

"Why don't you just let us take you into custody, we can sort something out" McGee said

Brown smirked, tightening his grip on his gun, "You're all too afraid to use your guns, that's humorous. Well, I'm not." With that, Brown shot at Kate, triggering the first of the shots. After the gun fire, Brown lay on the ground, his body ridden with about 8 bullets. Kate staggered into Tony, her hand clutching at her chest, Tony caught her as she half-fell to the ground.

"Kate!" Gibbs shouted, coming over as Tony tried to undo her jacket, fumbling with the zip as his hands were covered in her blood.

"McGee…!" Gibbs called

"Paramedics, got it boss" McGee interrupted, getting out his cell

"Kate, stay with us" Tony said as they got the jacket open

"I'm right here, Tony" she replied in a strangely clear voice

As the jacket opened, Gibbs pulled up her shirt to reveal the bullet-proof vest, with two bullets lodged in it. He breathed out deeply and sat back on his heels, "Goddamn it, Kate", he wiped a bloodied hand over his brow, "Where are you hit?"

"Um," Kate said, trying to sit up to take a look, but was stopped by Tony, "Where the blood is coming from"

Tony rolled his eyes, "Could you be more specific?"

"My shoulder, I think" Kate replied

Gibbs eased her forward and took off her jacket and shirt, revealing the bullet-proof vest and a blood-stained T-shirt. He studied her shoulder and nodded at Tony, applying pressure to the wound, "Just a flesh wound"

Tony smiled at her, "Looks like you were lucky, Todd"

"Luck has nothing to do with it, DiNozzo" Kate replied, moaning

Gibbs brushed a strand of hair out of her face as she groaned in pain. Even through her pain, Kate glared at him, apparently still pissed off at him. Gibbs averted his eyes and retracted his hand, still keeping his other hand on her wound, applying pressure. He took a moment to recompose himself, before turning to McGee, "What's their ETA, McGee?"

"They should be here any minute, boss. They were nearby when I called" McGee answered, stopping when he heard sirens, "I think that's them"

"I'm fine. I don't need paramedics" Kate said, trying to sit up

"Kate!" Tony said warningly, "Lay down, I don't want you to pass out"

"Tony, I don't need to go to hospital" Kate responded, but lying down anyway

"Let's let them make that decision" Gibbs said

Kate grumbled and snatched her shirt from under Gibbs' hand where he was applying pressure to her shoulder, "I can do that"

Gibbs bit his lip and stepped back, keeping his face devoid of any emotion. When the paramedics came in and started fussing about around Kate, Tony came to join him.

"You okay, boss?" Tony asked, concerned

Without looking up from the activity around Kate, he answered, "Why wouldn't I be, DiNozzo?"

Before Tony could answer, Gibbs walked off and out the main entrance, to talk to Deakin about Brown's body. Tony sighed and looked for McGee, the younger man was on the phone, probably talking to Abby, the two never seemed to be able to go for six hours without contacting each other. Tony moved closer and heard bits of the conversation.

"No, we ran out last night….yeah; we used the last of it…well, yeah, ok, I used the last of it this morning before I left….no, we wont be able to drop by a chemist on the way back, there's one just up from NCIS…yeah…yeah, love you too" McGee hung up and noticing somebody behind him, turned around to see Tony wriggling his eyebrows

"The chemist? You used the last of it? Tut tut, McGee, you shouldn't do something like that by yourself" Tony said

McGee frowned, "Ah, we ran out of foot lotion, Tony, we both have foot calluses"

"That's what I use it for" Tony remarked. He gave McGee a slap on the back and walked over to Gibbs, who had just finished speaking with Deakin. "You wanna ride with her in the ambulance, boss?"

"I don't think she'd want me there" Gibbs replied

Tony rolled his eyes, "Get in the ambulance with her. And don't argue with me"

Gibbs studied the young Italian for a moment before silently nodding and turning to watch Kate as the paramedics helped her into the back. He walked over with Tony close behind, and replied in the affirmative when the paramedic asked him if he wanted to come along for the trip.

Kate glared at him as the paramedic moved aside, "I don't want you to come along with me" she said coldly, "I'd rather ride with Tony" she continued, thinking about the odd, brother like relationship she had with him now. "Or McGee, but I definitely don't want you!"

Gibbs heard McGee's sharp intake of breath from where he stood behind him and a muffled gasp from Tony. Gibbs' heart constricted for the hundredth time that day, convincing him that by the end of the day, he'd have a heart attack from the anxiety and hurt she was causing him. He opened his mouth to reply, to tell her that he didn't care what she wanted, that he was coming along anyway and pull rank on her. But he couldn't bring himself to do it, he couldn't think of any response, not an indifferent or even angry one. Closing his mouth, he realised he had to get out of there and fast, and not because Kate looked as if she would physically attack him, but because of the emotional turmoil she had wrought over him. Because the walls he had built around him to protect him, were crumbling, and he didn't want everybody to see the raw emotion that lurked beneath. Turning on his heel, he stalked towards the car, not waiting to see what would happen.

Tony watched Gibbs stride off, and turned back to Kate, "That was harsh, Todd"

"He deserved it, DiNozzo" Kate responded

Tony narrowed his eyes, "McGee! You're riding with Kate. I'll see you both at the hospital" he said, before turning to catch up with Gibbs.

* * *

That's it for chapter 35... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	36. Chapter 36

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a gigantic thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

Gibbs stood with his back to Tony and the car. Tony walked up to him and faced him. 

"You okay?" he asked

Gibbs lowered his hand from his face and looked at Tony, blinking a few times, trying to hold back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. "I'm fine, DiNozzo" he replied softly. Then threw his hands in the air, and saying louder, "Why wouldn't I be? There is nothing left of the team, you, McGee and Kate are leaving. Forever. You're not coming back. And I'll be left on my own; to try to replace three of the best agents I've ever had and ever will have" he sighed, "And I haven't even started on Kate. But then, there's not much to say, she hates me!"

"She doesn't hate you, boss" Tony responded

"Yeah? You don't sound very convincing. Can't blame her though, I mean for starters, I punched her" he breathed out deeply and blinked furiously, "Can't believe I did that." He paused for a moment, "Oh, and not to mention I'm twice her age…"

"Age has nothing to do with it" Tony responded, only getting a humph sound from Gibbs. "You're like a fine wine, boss. As you get older, you get better"

Gibbs looked at him, frowning slightly "Are you flirting with me, DiNozzo?"

"No, boss. You'd know if I was, but personally I wouldn't flirt with you" Tony replied

"Right" Gibbs responded, pausing for a moment, "Don't know whether to take that as a relief or an insult"

Tony smiled, "Well, don't get me wrong, Gibbs. I can definitely see where the attraction is, I can see why Kate likes you. You're good-looking, attractive, strong," he paused, considering his boss, "Dead sexy! But you're not my type"

"What I'm straight? Too old for you, perhaps?" Gibbs asked

"Well, it is a well known fact that I date women," he corrected himself, "ah, people, younger than me. But straight's not a problem, I could convert you"

"Is that right?"

"That a challenge, boss?" Tony asked, when he got no response from the older man, he added, "Nah, you're not my type. Don't think I could get over the whole 'boss' thing"

Gibbs raised his eyebrows, "You mean to say you've never dated a boss before? Now, that surprises me"

"Hey, I didn't say that. I've dated my boss before" Tony responded, "She wasn't my type either"

Gibbs sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Yeah, well we going to the hospital or not?"

"Yeah," Tony replied, unlocking the car, "Should get them to have a look at you" he said getting into the car. Gibbs grumbled and slid into the passenger seat. "Don't worry, boss, she'll come 'round"

Gibbs looked hopefully at Tony, "Let's hope so. If not for her sake, then for mine"

* * *

Tony and Gibbs waited in the waiting room with McGee for Kate to come out. Tony smiled as he though of how McGee had almost collided with him and Gibbs as they walked into the hospital. He looked to McGee and was about to comment about him being afraid of Kate, when the younger agent's cell rang, McGee excused himself and left. Tony sighed and turned to Gibbs who was sitting in the chair with his head leaned against the wall, with his eyes closed. Cocking his head, Tony regarded the older man, his thoughts wondering to their discussion before they got in the car. 

"What you dreaming about, boss?" Tony asked

"In order to dream, DiNozzo, I have to be asleep" Gibbs replied

Tony nodded, watching a group of doctors making their rounds, "The team isn't falling apart, Gibbs. I will only leave if you make it impossible to stay"

Gibbs raised his head from the wall and narrowed his eyes at Tony for a moment, hope flashing across his eyes "You would stay?"

Tony thought for a moment "If you let me, you know, ah, try something with Agent Smith?"

"Tony, I told you that if I had to change a rule or two for you to stay, I would." Gibbs replied

Tony gave him a charming smile, "Thanks, boss." Tony paused to gather his thoughts, "Now go in there and see her and convince her to stay"

"I don't think so" Gibbs responded, leaning his head against the wall again

"Why not? She's in love with you" Tony told him

"Tony, drop it!" Gibbs responded as Tony's cell rang

Tony frowned and flipped it open, listening for a moment, then holding it to Gibbs, "It's for you, it's Ducky"

Gibbs groaned as he took the cell, walking outside before answering. "Gibbs"  
"Jethro, how are you feeling?"

He sighed, "I'd rather not get into that right now. Kate was shot in a shoot-out with Brown"

"Oh my, how is she?"

"She was shot in the shoulder, she'll probably be out before the end of today" Gibbs replied

"Have you talked to her, Jethro?"

"Yeah. That was before I smacked her across her mouth" he replied, feeling more than a bit disappointed with himself, "Now she won't let me anywhere near her, and I don't blame her."

Ducky sighed, "I think she was just a bit shocked, she doesn't blame you for your actions…"

"Well, she should, I should be held accountable for my actions" Gibbs interrupted

"…She knows there were extending circumstances and that you wouldn't in your normal frame of mind, do anything like that" Ducky continued, ignoring Gibbs' interruption

"Still doesn't excuse it, Duck" Gibbs said, exasperated

"You can't blame yourself for this. Maybe for not looking after yourself better, but…"

"Ducky!" Gibbs snapped, pausing for good measure, "Look, I can't deal with this now. I'll talk to you later." he hung up and leaned against the wall, momentarily closing his eyes. Sighing, he walked back to the waiting room, where Kate had come out with her shoulder bandaged and her arm in a sling. Stopping at the entrance to the room, he leaned against the wall and watched her for a moment. She looked happy, telling Tony that the doctor had discharged her after her protests, but to see Ducky when she got back. Tony grinned, remembering the feeling of needing to get out of a hospital. They began chatting animatedly about something, Gibbs watched as Kate smiled brightly at something Tony had said. It had been a while since he'd seen that smile and God, how he'd missed it. Something caught Kate's eye, causing her to turn, she saw Gibbs leaning against the wall with a strange smile on his face. Her smile disappeared to be replaced with a glare. Gibbs' own smile disappeared when he saw the expression on her face; he mentally reassembled his walls, and walked into the room.

"They discharged you" Gibbs stated

Kate rolled her eyes and looked at Tony, "Tell that bastard that he knows I was discharged, he watched the whole thing"

Tony looked slightly out of place, looking up at Gibbs, "Ah, boss…"

"I heard her Tony". Gibbs sighed, looking at Kate as he told Tony, "Tell her…tell her I'm glad she's gonna be okay". He turned around, "I'm gonna find McGee, I want you at the car in 10. Deakin is sending us his reports once he's done, they'll send Brown's body to us later."

* * *

That's it for chapter 36... I hope you like it! Please review, please! 


	37. Chapter 37

**A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?**

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!

Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!

And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific work and inspiration!

* * *

Gibbs sat at his desk, squinting at the screen. The drive home had been painful, not because they didn't move for close to six hours, but because Kate had not acknowledged his presence at all. She hadn't spoken to him at all, and the one time she needed to talk to him, they talked through an unwilling Tony, whom she had woken up. McGee had still been unsure of where his future lay, until Tony told him that he would be staying and he would appreciate it if the younger agent stayed as well. Well, at least, not in so many words, but Tony had coerced McGee into staying. Tony had also tried to talk to Kate, but she had ignored him, then had been interrupted by a call from Shane. 

Gibbs sighed and took a sip of his coffee, which had gone cold. He scrunched up his face, but drank it anyway. Looking up at the clock, he frowned as he realised it had stopped; he raised his eyebrow and looked at McGee, "McGee, what's the time?"

McGee unconsciously looked at the clock, before frowning and looking at his watch, "Ah, ten to seven, boss"

Gibbs nodded and went back to work, but from the corner of his eye, saw Kate look up. "Tony, can you tell the bastard that I need to leave now?" she asked, but it was more of a statement

Tony sighed, "Uh, no, Kate, if you need to talk to Gibbs, you won't be doing it through me, talk to the poor man"

Abby who had heard the last comment, walked into the bullpen saying, "Well, he is paying three alimonies, Tony!"

Gibbs groaned, muttering, "Don't remind me"

"Hey Abs, so, what's going on?" Tony asked, grateful for the interruption

Abby turned to Gibbs, "Well, I was wondering if I could steal McGee. He can finish the paperwork and stuff tomorrow; we have more important stuff to do"

Tony smiled, "Ah, so this is about the 'foot lotion'"

Abby frowned, still looking at Gibbs "What foot lotion?"

"Yes, you can 'steal' him, McGee I want those reports on my desk in the morning" Gibbs interrupted them

"Right, thanks, boss" McGee replied, getting his gear and leaving with Abby

Kate began packing up her stuff as well. "Where are you going?" Gibbs asked, without looking up.

She sighed, "Date with Shane, we're going to dinner"

"Thought he cheated on you, Kate" Gibbs stated

"At least he's consistent" Kate responded, narrowing her eyes at him

"Seriously, Kate?" Tony asked

"He said it was a misunderstanding and begged for a second chance or something. Anyway, I gotta go or I'll be late" Kate replied, turning off her lamp and heading to the elevator

"Wait! I'll join you" Gibbs called, holding up his cup and throwing it into the bin as he got up, "Need coffee". He rushed to the elevator and got to the doors just as they were closing, he held the doors back and walked in.

Kate stood at the back of the elevator with her arms folded and turned her back to him.

"Kate?" Gibbs asked

"Don't wanna hear it, Gibbs" Kate responded

"Kate" Gibbs said again, but received no response. He flicked the emergency switch, making the elevator come to a stop and the lights go out. "Dammit, Kate, look at me"

Kate slowly turned around and looked into his eyes, not saying anything. Trying not to let his nervousness show, he looked into her eyes, "I'm so sorry that I hit you. Nothing can excuse it. I..."

"It's not about that, Gibbs. I accept that you weren't in the right frame of mind, I'm passed that, moved on" Kate interrupted him

"Really?" Gibbs asked, hope in his voice, "So, what is this about?"

"You really don't know? You honestly don't know?" Kate asked, accusingly, then muttered, "You really are a bastard"

"I am...Do you think we could..?" he tried to put what he felt in words, but couldn't seem to find the right thing to say. Instead, he slowly brought his hands up to her cheeks and licked his lips as he leaned in and gave her a kiss. It was more of a possessive kiss than a passionate one, but that didn't seem to matter. He kept his eyes on hers as he drew away. He flicked the emergency switch again, causing the elevator swirl into life, "Don't want you going out with Shane tonight, I said nothing about an open relationship"

"You want a relationship?" Kate asked

"Yeah"

Kate flicked the switch again, making the elevator shut-down again; she stepped into his personal space and leaned forward. Their lips brushed and they kissed each other. Gibbs wrapped his arms around Kate's waist, pulling her tighter as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Kate moaned as Gibbs deepened the kiss, they drew apart when the need for oxygen was making their heads spin.

"Let's take this back to my place?" Gibbs asked, catching his breath

Kate nodded, and said with a grin "Yeah, maybe I could properly check out your…boat"

Gibbs smiled, "Is that all you want to see?"

* * *

Kate woke up, feeling the warmth of a body beside her. She smiled and slowly opened her eyes, seeing Gibbs asleep next to her. She pulled the blanket over her shoulders and put her head on his chest, looking up at the boat. Smiling to herself as she thought of him keeping the blanket under the boat for such purposes as these. Thoughts of last night came drifting back to her, after they had arrived at his place; he had attempted to teach her how to cook, but that had appeared to be too dangerous. But they had forgotten about eating anyway, they had become…preoccupied with each other. After 'dinner', Gibbs – although he had insisted to call him Jethro, they were way passed 'Gibbs' – had properly shown her the boat. They had shared some bourbon and sanded for a while before they had fallen asleep under the boat. 

She came back to the present when she heard Gibbs – no, Jethro – stir. Turning her head so she could face him, she saw his eyes slowly open and blink a few times before look at her. A small smile spread across his face, "Hey" he whispered

"Hey yourself" she replied

He groaned as he moved his head, which apparently was sore from spending the night on a hard floor. "Seen enough of the boat?"

"I don't think I'll ever have seen enough of it"

Gibbs smiled as she put her head back down. He stroked his fingers through her hair, "Did I ever tell you, you should dye your hair red?"

"No" Kate replied honestly, "But the coffee ladies did"

"The coffee ladies are smart" he commented

"Mmmm" Kate murmured into his chest

"What's the time, Katie?" he asked after a while

Kate raised her head, "Uh ah, no you don't. We are not working today, we are going to call in sick"

"Don't you think that'll look a bit suspicious?" Gibbs asked, looking into her eyes

"I don't care, I want you all to myself for the rest of the day" Kate replied

Gibbs smiled, "Very possessive, aren't you?"

Kate returned the smile, "You better believe it." She responded. They lapsed into silence for a while, each of them caught up in their own thoughts. A smile spread across Kate's face, "So, you still have that honey dust?"

Gibbs laughed, "Actually I do. You have some plans with it?"

"You bet" Kate replied

"Think I've made enough bets for the week, Kate" Gibbs responded, rolling over and catching her lips in a passionate kiss

* * *

Finished... I hope you liked it and enjoyed the ride as much as I did!

I have ideas for a sequel, so please review and tell me if you think I should go ahead with it. I decided to see how this story would go before starting a sequel.

Thankyou all for your reviews, you have been great!


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